Foreign Affairs

‘A Blow To US Interests’: Wall Street Journal Editorial Board Criticizes Trump’s Removal Of Troops In Germany

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The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board said Thursday that President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from Germany invites Russian aggression.

WSJ’s editorial board accused Trump in an editorial of weakening America’s military posture by withdrawing approximately 12,000 troops from Germany while receiving nothing in return.

The board said the president seems to be “undermining America’s military position” based on irritation over Germany’s failure to meet NATO obligations.

NATO members agreed in 2014 to raise defense spending to at least 2% of their GDP, NPR reported. In 2019, Germany spent 1.38% of its GDP on defense, according to a German state news outlet.

WSJ compared the move to former President Barack Obama’s troop withdrawals from Germany in 2012 and 2013. A year after this action, Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized an invasion of the Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine, WSJ reported.

Trump’s withdrawal plan could cost between $6 billion and $8 billion, the WSJ reported.

Democrats and Republicans have criticized Trump’s plan, CNN reported Wednesday.

“Champagne must be flowing freely at the Kremlin,” New Jersey Democrat Sen. Robert Menendez said in a statement Wednesday. “On a nearly daily basis, President Trump pays off the debt owed to President Putin who supported his 2016 election.”

Sen. Ben Sasse said the president has a “lack of strategic understanding” of the issue in a statement Wednesday.

“U.S. troops aren’t stationed around the world as traffic cops or welfare caseworkers – they’re restraining the expansionary aims of the world’s worst regimes, chiefly China and Russia,” said the Nebraska Republican.

‘Withdrawal Is Weak’: Ben Sasse Rips Trump For Taking Troops Out Of Germany https://t.co/FJx8A5w1YN

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) July 29, 2020

Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney called the policy “dangerously misguided” in a June 6 tweet.

“If the United States abandons allies, withdraws our forces, and retreats within our borders, the cause of freedom – on which our nation was founded and our security depends – will be in peril,” the third-highest ranking Republican in the House said.