U.S. Forces Reduction in Europe: One Brigade to Leave NATO’s Eastern Flank

The United States will reduce its military presence on NATO’s eastern flank, including in Romania, as part of a review of its troop numbers in Europe.

The Romanian Ministry of Defense announced this on the official website.

According to the statement, the U.S. will end the rotation of one of its brigades in Romania and will keep up to 1,000 troops in the country as a permanent active force.

The Ministry explained that these changes are linked to the new defense priorities of the U.S. administration, as well as to the strengthening of NATO forces in other countries along the eastern flank, which allows Washington to flexibly adapt its military configuration in the region.

These intentions were announced back in the summer of 2025, when the United States’ European NATO allies began preparing for a possible reduction or rotation of American troops on the continent.

As part of these U.S. actions, several of those countries privately urged NATO to accelerate negotiations on revising its defense plans. The withdrawal of American troops is also expected to affect major U.S. military bases in Germany and Italy, which have served as key hubs for supporting forward military operations.

U.S. Ambassador to the Alliance Matthew Whitaker stated ahead of the NATO summit that the Pentagon’s assessment of the deployment of American forces in Europe is expected to be “completed by late summer or early fall.”