Tuesday, May 19th saw U.S. vice president JD Vance brief the press that a deployment of 4,000 troops to Poland had been delayed rather than canceled, but said Europe had to stand on its own two feet.
Last week U.S. officials said that the deployment had been scrapped, the latest move by President Donald Trump’s administration to slash troop numbers stationed within its European NATO allies.
According to Vance, Trump had been urging European allies to take more of the burden of their own defense since his first term.
We have got to have more sovereignty and more of Europe standing on its own two feet. That will continue to be our policy in Europe.
When asked about the 4,000 troops and Poland, Vance replied:
It is a delay in troop rotation. Those troops could go elsewhere in Europe. We could decide to send them elsewhere.
We actually haven’t made the final determination about where those troops are ultimately going to go.
Besides, the Department of Defense said it was reducing the number of U.S. troop brigades in Europe from four to three, taking the deployment back to 2021 levels, as Washington pressures the continent to do more towards its own defense.
The Pentagon “has reduced the total number of Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs) assigned to Europe from four to three,” it said in a statement, adding
The Department will determine the final disposition of these and other U.S. forces in Europe based on further analysis of U.S. strategic and operational requirements, as well as our allies’ own ability to contribute forces toward Europe’s defense.
A BCT comprises 4,000-4,700 personnel, according to a Congressional report.
