Warsaw is ready to take in more U.S. soldiers, Poland's defense minister said on Saturday, after President Donald Trump indicated he may relocate troops from neighboring Germany.
"Poland is ready to accept additional American troops in order to strengthen NATO's eastern flank and provide even better protection for Europe," Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said on X. "The Polish-American alliance is the cornerstone of our security," he added.
The post came within hours of Trump signaling the possibility that the U.S. could move soldiers to Poland. Trump, in remarks at the White House, lauded America's relationship with Warsaw and Poland's President Karol Nawrocki, a nationalist his administration backed in last year's presidential election.
"We have a great relationship with Poland, I have a great relationship with the president, I endorsed him and he won," Trump said. "He's a great fighter, he's a great guy, I like him a lot, so that's possible," Trump said when asked if he will move US troops to Poland or some other country in the eastern flank if they are pulled from Germany.
The U.S. president said last week that he plans to cut the US's military presence in Germany by more than 5,000 troops, deepening concerns about fragmentation in NATO. In a post following Trump's announcement on Germany, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Nawrocki's political opponent, said the trans-Atlantic NATO alliance risks disintegrating and called on all members to reverse "this disastrous trend."
Tusk has adopted a more reserved stance toward Trump's policies, while continually emphasizing that the US is a key ally of Poland, where about 10,000 US troops are currently stationed. Poland's location on NATO's eastern flank exposes it to elevated regional security risks, particularly from Russia after its invasion of Ukraine and its military presence in Belarus.
Poland spends almost 5% of its economic output on defense. Finance Minister Andrzej Domanski said this week that Warsaw is financially prepared to take more US troops. Then-U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem waded into the tightly-contested campaign by traveling to Poland and taking the stand at a conservative rally.
