Forty-seven percent of German citizens generally supported a reduction of U.S. troops in Germany, according to a survey published by the market research institute YouGov on Tuesday.
Only 32 percent of Germans wanted U.S. troops to stay in the country at current strength or even increase their numbers, according to the survey conducted among more than 2,000 German citizens on behalf of the German Press Agency (dpa).
Last week, U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper announced that the United States would withdraw a total of 11,900 soldiers from Germany. Around 6,400 soldiers would be sent home while almost 5,600 would be relocated from Germany to other countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
In June, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the U.S. military to withdraw 9,500 troops from Germany. Trump argued that Germany was not fulfilling its obligation to invest sufficiently in defense as a member of NATO.
One in four Germans, or 25 percent, even wanted all U.S. troops stationed in their country to leave, the survey found. Currently, about 36,000 U.S. troops are deployed in Germany.
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