NATO’s Eastern European members are offering to cut costs for U.S. troops stationed on their soil to discourage the Trump administration from reducing its military footprint there, according to people familiar with the matter. The bid is being prepared for an alliance meeting with U.S. Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby in Brussels Aug. 27 and reflects the urgency of their maintaining a credible deterrent against Russia amid the Pentagon’s six-month review of its military presence in Europe.
The review includes a U.S. questionnaire due on Aug. 28, seen by Bloomberg, that surprised European capitals in the middle of the summer with questions gauging support for Donald Trump’s plans, including whether countries have been “publicly supportive” of his foreign policy, about restrictions on U.S. military base use and whether nations are spending money with U.S. defense contractors.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
