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(CN) — Relations between Washington and Europe are hitting a new low after U.S. President Donald Trump said American troop drawdowns in Germany would go “a lot further” and that European cars and trucks would be hit with a 25% tariff this week.
Trump is lashing out against European leaders for their refusal to back his war against Iran and take part in operations to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, the Hormuz crisis escalated after the U.S. vowed to escort ships through the strait.
The transatlantic spat is so bad Trump is attacking his erstwhile friends in Europe, conservative German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and far-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. He was especially annoyed by Merz’s remark last week that the U.S. did not have an exit strategy from the war and that Iran was “humiliating” the U.S. in the negotiations.
Over the weekend, Trump told reporters that the U.S. would withdraw more active duty troops than the 5,000 announced last Friday by the Pentagon. In Europe, fears are running high that Trump is blowing up the NATO alliance. His attendance at a NATO summit in Turkey in July remains uncertain.
“We’re going to cut way down and we’re cutting a lot further than 5,000,” he said, speaking on Saturday.
Trump also has suggested troops might be withdrawn from Italy and Spain after they did not allow the U.S. to use their military bases for attacks on Iran.
As of the end of 2025 there were 36,436 active duty U.S. troops in Germany, 12,662 in Italy and 3,814 in Spain. In all, about 68,000 U.S. troops are permanently stationed in Europe, according to figures from the Pentagon. Total troop numbers surged to more than 100,000 following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, under Joe Biden’s presidency, but have fallen gradually back since then.
In another broadside, last Friday Trump said the European Union was “not complying” with a trade deal it struck last July with the U.S. raising the tariff on European cars and trucks from 15% to 25%. Germany, Europe’s leading automaker, was seen as the main target.
By Monday, European leaders were treading cautiously and trying to patch up the relationship with Trump.
In an interview Sunday with German public broadcaster ARD, Merz downplayed the significance of the troop withdrawal, saying it consisted of troops the Pentagon had stationed in Germany on a temporary basis during Biden’s presidency.
In the same interview, Merz confirmed that a Biden-era plan to deploy a U.S. battalion with long-range Tomahawk missiles to Germany had been canceled.
Still, he insisted he did not consider Trump’s announcements as retaliation for his position on Iran.
“I am also not giving up cooperation with Donald Trump,” Merz said.
Despite Trump’s attacks, he said he wasn’t going to change his “conviction that the Americans are our most important partners in the North Atlantic Alliance.”
Merz initially did not condemn Trump for attacking Iran and said he supported getting rid of the “terrorist regime” in Tehran, but he turned critical as the economic damage caused by the closing of the Strait of Hormuz mounted.
At a meeting of European leaders and allies at the European Political Community in Armenia, NATO chief Mark Rutte acknowledged there had “been some disappointment on the U.S. side” over Europe’s reluctance to support the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran.
But he said Europeans had “heard the message” from Washington about the need to beef up their military capacities.
“Europeans are stepping up — a bigger role for Europe and a stronger NATO,” Rutte said.
Meanwhile, transatlantic trade tensions were rising too following Trump’s tariff threat.
On Tuesday, U.S. and EU trade chiefs were scheduled to hold talks on the trade dispute on the sidelines of a Group of Seven meeting in Paris.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has complained that the EU has not made sufficient progress on adjusting tariffs and rules as stipulated under an agreement Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced last summer at a Trump-owned golf club in Turnberry, Scotland.
Under the last-minute deal that avoided a brutal trade war, the EU agreed to a 15% tariff rate.
The European Parliament has given its conditional approval to the EU-U.S. trade pact, but a final version of the deal needs to be negotiated with the EU’s 27 member states.
On Monday, the EU disagreed that it had not upheld the deal.
“Since day one, we are implementing the joint statement, and we’re fully committed to delivering on our shared commitments,” EU spokesman Thomas Regnier said.
He would not speculate on how the EU would act if the tariffs kick in.
“We will not escalate any threats. We focus on the implementation phase,” he said.
Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.
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