Trump administration considers withdrawing 25,000+ U.S. troops from Europe

For the first time since the Cold War's end, the United States is moving beyond rhetoric into concrete planning for a withdrawal of up to 40,000 troops from Europe — a shift that would not merely redistribute military assets but fundamentally rewrite the terms of the transatlantic compact that has defined Western security for seven decades. The Trump administration frames this as a reckoning with European dependency; European capitals experience it as an existential question about whether the alliance that has anchored their peace still holds. History rarely announces its turning points in adv