President Donald Trump will meet with Poland’s President Andrzej Duda at the White House next week, where the issue of moving American troops from Germany to Poland is expected to be discusses, among others issues such as trade, energy and telecommunications security, the White House announced Wednesday.
The meeting, set for June 24, comes on the heels of Trump announcing plans to reduce the U.S. military presence in Germany. Under the current plan, at least some of those Germany-based troops are expected to be shifted to Poland.
Trump announced Monday that he was reducing the U.S. military presence in Germany to 25,000 troops, down from the current level of about 34,500.
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He told Duda during an Oval Office meeting last year that he was thinking of moving some troops from Germany to Poland. He also complained that Germany was not living up to its defense spending obligations under NATO, while praising Poland for doing its part.
Duda has been trying to woo more American forces, even suggesting Poland would contribute over $2 billion to create a permanent U.S. base in the country.
Germany is one of several members of the NATO military alliance that have failed to reach a goal set by member nations in 2014 for each to spend at least 2% of gross domestic product on defense by 2024. Germany says it hopes to reach 2% by 2031.
At last December’s NATO summit outside London, Trump hosted a lunch to celebrate the nine countries to reach the 2% threshold, including Poland.
