BERLIN—German officials shrugged off President Trump’s decision to withdraw 5,000 U.S. troops from the country as symbolic, but analysts warned the broader trans-Atlantic rift risks leaving Europe’s economy and security dangerously exposed.
Trump’s latest increase in tariffs on European cars, his apparent U-turn on plans to station long-range missiles in Germany and the economic and military fallout from the war in Iran will have a bigger impact on the region, they warned.
“All of these are a bigger deal than a symbolic 5K-troop reduction,” said Thorsten Benner, director of the Global Public Policy Institute, a Berlin security think tank. “So is the rapid depletion of U.S. arsenals due to wasting enormous amounts of precious assets in the Iran war.”
