U.S. President Donald Trump regularly complains that Germany does not fully pay military expenses and is not sufficiently involved in NATO defense.
Nevertheless, the permanent presence of U.S. troops costs the country money: almost ten billion euros in ten years is the cost of deploying U.S. troops in Germany.
Of the 648.5 million euros, about two thirds were spent on construction works and 333.9 million on so-called defense expenditures. These include aid payments to former U.S. servicemen, repair of damage caused by U.S. soldiers, and compensation for U.S. investments in former military locations.
The data are obtained from the Ministry of Finance’s response to a request from the opposition Left Party MP, Brigitte Freyhold.
In total, there are just under 35,000 U.S. soldiers in Germany at present. U.S. President Donald Trump has announced that he will withdraw 9,500 from Germany.