NATO Eastern Allies Offer to Cut US Base Costs as Pentagon Reviews European Military Presence Ahead of Colby Brussels Meeting

NATO's eastern European members are offering to cut costs for US troops on their soil to dissuade the Trump administration from reducing its footprint, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter, ahead of an August 27 Brussels meeting with US Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby, part of the Pentagon's six-month review of its European presence 12. The review includes a US questionnaire due August 28, seen by Bloomberg, asking whether allies have been publicly supportive of Trump's foreign policy, about restrictions on US base use, and about spending with US defense contractors 23. Finnish President Alexander Stubb said Finland agrees with Washington on some issues and disagrees on others and will respond to the questionnaire in time, calling it simply how the current US administration operates rather than pressure 2. The US maintains roughly 80,000 to 100,000 troops in Europe, more than a third in Germany where a 5,000-troop drawdown is already underway, versus far smaller eastern deployments ranging from a few hundred in the Baltics to several thousand in Poland; the review is expected to conclude by December, and the questionnaire also asks whether allies would refrain from criticizing US foreign policy and condemn made-in-Europe defense industrial policies 23. The base-use question follows allies including Spain denying air base access for the US-Israeli war on Iran, which angered Trump 2.