German lawmakers have downgraded Trump’s plan to withdraw US troops

In what some see as a direct condemnation of President Angela Merkel, President Donald Trump is reportedly planning to evict more than a quarter of US troops from Germany.

Two conservative German legislators and congresswoman Liz Cheney defeated the measure, with one German legislator saying Russia and China would benefit from the plan.

Trump told the Pentagon to reduce the number of soldiers stationed in Germany to 9,500. There are currently 34,500 US service members permanently recruited in Germany as part of a long-standing arrangement with the US-NATO allies. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

Trump’s decision seems to be the latest salvo of the ongoing Cold War between him and Merkel, which prevented Trump from holding a G7 meeting this month.

Conservative German legislator Norbert Rodgen told the German press that a troop withdrawal was “very regrettable”.

Rodgen, a member of the center-right Union Block of Chancellor Angela Merkel, who chairs the foreign policy committee of the German parliament, said there was “no real reason for withdrawal”.

Cheney (R-Va.) Said the decision to drop the troops was “dangerously misleading.”

“This is a dangerously misguided policy. If the US abandons its allies, withdraws our forces, and retreats within our borders, the cause of our nation’s established & our security-dependent independence is at stake, ”a top foreign policy hawk Cheney tweeted on Saturday.

Johann Wadepool, vice president of the union’s congress, said the US decision to withdraw troops without consulting its NATO allies “reaffirms the Trump administration’s disregard for basic leadership.”

Vadebul said Russia and China would benefit from Trump’s plan.