Governors of 4 German states urge US Congress to stop Trump’s troop withdrawal plan

The governors of the four German states that are home to critical US military facilities have urged members of US Congress to try and force President Donald Trump to back down from plans to withdraw more than a quarter of the American troops from the country, AP said.

The heads of Bavaria, Hesse, Baden-Wurttemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate reportedly said in a letter that US facilities like the Grafenwoehr training area, the Ramstein and Spangdahlem airbases, the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center hospital and the headquarters of US European Command “form the backbone of the US presence in Europe and NATO’s ability to act.”

The US currently has about 34,500 troops in Germany, but Trump said in June that he had ordered this number to be reduced to 25,000.