Germany is Furious: "Trump did not update us on reduction in US forces" A senior government official responsible for the transatlantic partnership called Trump’s plan to remove about one-third of US troops from Germany "unacceptable." Washington's allies in Europe are worried about NATO weakening and strengthening Russia by extent. According to a senior Washington official, Trump has ordered 9,500 troops out of the state, about a third of the total force. "This is unacceptable, especially given that no one in Washington thought to update Germany, NATO's ally, in advance," said Peter Bayer, who is responsible for Germany-US relations and a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling party. German Foreign Minister Haiku Maas says he regrets the US administration's plan, describing Berlin's current relationship with the Trump administration as "complex." With the implementation of the plan, the scope of US fighting power in Germany will be reduced to 25,000 compared to 34,500 troops today. A bout 17,000 civilians, have been assisting US forces in Germany, who’ve been station there since the end of World War II. Germany hosts the largest number of American troops in Europe, followed by Italy, Britain and Spain. Trump has demanded many times from Germany to increase its defense spending including taking on a bigger financial role in NATO - the budget of which is substantially dependent on money from the USA. The president went as far as calling Germany "Russia's prisoner" because of its energy dependency of Russian supply, and yet US allies in Europe fear that reduction of US presence in Germany will hurt NATO and strengthen Russia.