Trump plans to punish 'delinquent' Germany, reduce US troops to 25,000

Since his election in 2016, Trump has pushed for the 2 per cent as a hard target, and he has repeatedly singled out Germany as a major offender, though many others are also below the goal

President Donald Trump has said he is ordering a major reduction in US troop strength in Germany, a move widely criticised by members of his own party as a gift to Russia and a threat to US national security.

"We're putting the number down to 25,000 soldiers," Trump said at the White House on Monday.

The US currently has about 34,500 troops in Germany far fewer than during the Cold War, when Germany was the central focus of American and NATO efforts to deter invasion by the former Soviet Union.

In recent decades, Germany has hosted key American military facilities