Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met in Warsaw on Saturday with the Minister of Defense in Warsaw to sign a new military pact with the strategically crucial Eastern European country.
The deal would allow a maximum of 5,500 members of the U.S. military to be based in Poland – an increase from the 4,500 stationed there today.
That number could grow to 20,000 troops in the face of a threat, Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak told the BBC.
President Trump hails the agreement as a “historic” strengthening of NATO against Russia’s ongoing threats.
“The agreement will increase our military cooperation and increase the US military presence in Poland to further strengthen NATO’s deterrence, strengthen European security and help ensure democracy, freedom and sovereignty,” Trump said. in a statement from the White House.
Some of the 11,900 troops Trump threw out of Germany last month will head east under the new deal.
Trump ordered a sharp reduction in the 36,000 U.S. troops stationed there amid a continuing dispute over NATO compensation.
“Germany has been abused,” Trump said in July.
“The United States has benefited for many years from trade and the military and everything else, and I’m here and I’ve pulled it off,” he said.
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