U.S. surprises, confuses NATO with about-face on troop deployment to Poland

U.S. President Donald Trump surprised NATO allies by pledging to send an additional 5,000 troops to ‌Poland, only hours before the alliance’s foreign ministers met in Sweden on Friday amid deep divisions over the Iran war.

Trump, in a Truth Social post, cited his relationship with Poland’s conservative nationalist president, Karol Nawrocki, as the reason behind his decision.

It was a surprising turnabout after weeks in which Trump fiercely criticized NATO members for not doing ​more to help the U.S.-Israeli military campaign. He has said he is considering withdrawing from the alliance and questioned ⁠whether Washington was bound to honour ⁠its mutual defence pact.

“It is confusing indeed, and not always easy to navigate,” Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard told reporters.

European fears about Trump’s commitment to NATO have been heightened by ⁠the decision to withdraw 5,000 troops from Europe, issued before Thursday’s pledge to send additional troops to Poland.

It was not immediately clear where ⁠the additional troops for Poland would come from.

Washington’s allies have also been confused and unsettled by the way the decision was communicated. ⁠U.S. officials ⁠first said the troops would be withdrawn from Germany ​but later said they would delay the deployment of a brigade to Poland.

The U.S. has also said a planned deployment of long-range Tomahawk missiles ​to Germany will no longer go ⁠ahead.

In addition, it plans to tell NATO allies it will shrink the pool of military capabilities the U.S. makes available to the alliance in a crisis, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Germany, meanwhile, said it would spend more than four per cent of the country’s gross domestic product on defence this year ahead of the meeting.

Before leaving for a meeting of NATO foreign ‌ministers in the Swedish town of Helsingborg, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump was “very disappointed” in alliance members who had not allowed the U.S. to use bases on their territory for the war, singling out Spain in particular.

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“You have countries like Spain denying U.S. the use of these bases — well then why are you in NATO? That’s a very fair question,” Rubio told reporters in ⁠Miami. “In fairness, other countries in NATO have been very helpful. But we need to discuss that.”

NATO officials have stressed they are a defensive alliance, and that the U.S. did not ask the 32-member alliance to take part in the Iran war. Some alliance members eventually honoured commitments to allow U.S. forces to use their airspace and bases on ‌their territory.

European concerns about Trump’s attitude toward NATO were also exacerbated this year by Trump’s push to acquire Greenland, a territory of fellow NATO member Denmark. Periodic tariff threats directed by Trump at individual alliance members have also been a source of frustration.

At the gathering in Helsingborg, European ministers are expected to try to placate the U.S. by stressing they are ready to help with freedom of navigation in the Strait ​of Hormuz when conditions permit and to take more responsibility for European security. Iran has restricted traffic through the strait during the war.

With respect to Canada, which has more ground to make up toward last year’s NATO member pledge to increase defence spending, the Pentagon says it wants to see a clearer plan as to how Ottawa plans to meet the commitment to spend 3.5 per cent of GDP on the military, as well as additional 1.5 per cent on defence infrastructure.