The White House is considering “a plan to punish” NATO members that President Trump considered “useless” to the US during the war with Iran, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The proposal would involve moving U.S. troops from some European countries to other countries that have been more supportive of the U.S. Trump cannot withdraw the U.S. completely from the alliance without congressional approval, and the troop relocation proposal would be far from President Trump’s recent threats to quit the alliance, the WSJ reports.
The U.S. has about 84,000 troops stationed in Europe, most of them in Germany and Italy.
“Administration officials are frustrated with Germany’s stance after senior administration officials criticized the war, even though Germany serves as one of the largest and most important centers for the U.S. military in support of its operations in the Middle East. Italy also briefly blocked U.S. use of an air base in Sicily, and the French government agreed to allow the U.S. to use a base in southern France only after guaranteeing that planes landing there were not involved in attacks on Iran.”
Officials said that among the countries that could benefit most are Poland, Romania, Lithuania and Greece. Eastern European countries have some of the highest defense spending rates in the alliance and were among the first to signal that they would support an international coalition to monitor the Strait of Hormuz. After the outbreak of war, Romania quickly approved U.S. requests to allow its bases to be used by the U.S. Air Force,” the WSJ reported.
The plan is still in its early stages and is just one of the options that the White House is discussing to punish NATO.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte met with Trump in Washington on Wednesday, and then White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. She said: “It’s quite sad that NATO has turned its back on the American people in the last six weeks, when it is the American people who have funded their defense.”
