Trump pledges to send additional 5,000 troops to Poland after withdrawal from Germany

US President Donald Trump on Thursday said that the United States will be sending an additional 5,000 troops to Poland. In a post on TruthSocial, Trump cited his warm ties with Poland's conservative nationalist president, Karol Nawrocki, as the main reason behind his decision to send additional troops.

The announcement came just two days after the US Vice President JD Vance told reporters that an American troop deployment to Poland had been delayed. The remarks are also coming at a time when the United States is reviewing its troop presence in Europe and had long been expected to scale it back following demands from Trump that Nato take a larger ‌role in the defence of Europe.

More from World

"Based on the successful Election of the now President of Poland, Karol Nawrocki, whom I was proud to endorse, and our relationship with him, I am pleased to announce that the United States will be sending an additional 5,000 Troops to Poland," Trump said in his post on Thursday.

Trump's ties with the Polish president

The American president hosted Nawrocki at the White House in May last year and outrightly endorsed him at a crucial moment ahead of the Polish election in which Nawrocki went on to defeat the candidate of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk's pro-European, centrist party.

He met Nawrocki again at the White House in September last year. At that time, he said that the United States could increase its troop presence in Poland. Trump also pledged to secure the country's defence.

It is still not immediately clear whether the deployment would be rotational or permanent, or if there was any link to Trump’s previous decision to pull 5,000 troops out of Germany. It is important to note that there are already about 10,000 US troops in Poland.

Trump announced the move right before US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is due to take part in a Nato ministerial meeting in Sweden, after weeks of tense relations between the US administration and its European allies caused by their refusal to get involved in the Iran war. Hence, it'll be interesting to see how Nato will be looking at the situation.