The Pentagon abruptly canceled the deployment of an armored brigade to Poland, a major step toward President Trump’s plan to shrink the U.S. posture in Europe that caught some military officials by surprise.
The move followed a Pentagon announcement this month that it would be removing 5,000 troops from Germany. That decision was made public after Trump objected to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s criticism of the White House’s handling of its war with Iran.
Trump has told reporters that troop cuts in Europe would go even deeper, insisting “we’re cutting a lot further than 5,000” personnel from Germany, threatening to pull troops out of Italy and Spain too.
The Pentagon has said that its longer-term goal is have European allies assume the main burden for conventional defense and to reduce the U.S. military role on the continent
U.S. officials said the cancellation of the deployment of the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Cavalry Division, which is more than 4,000 troops, was part of a broader reconfiguration of the U.S. military presence in Europe and that additional steps are likely. Though the brigade had been headed to Poland, some elements could have operated in other parts of Europe.
The Wall Street Journal reported last month that the Trump administration was considering punishing certain European countries that hadn’t supported the U.S. in its war with Iran by removing American troops from their bases.
But the Trump administration had had close relations with Poland and Trump suggested earlier this month that he might consider moving some troops to the country from Germany.
U.S. military commanders had submitted recommendations on how the reduction of 5,000 troops in Germany might be carried out and the expectation was that a methodical process for adjusting the American force posture would be put in place.
But Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth surprised much of the defense establishment by accelerating the cuts. Some of the equipment and troops belonging to the brigade, dubbed the “Black Jack” brigade, were already en route when the deployment was canceled.
The decision to halt the deployment of the armored unit was relayed during a meeting earlier Wednesday between U.S. European Command and the staff of U.S. Army Europe and Africa, according to a Defense Department official. The Army Times first reported the canceled deployment.
The Pentagon didn’t say how the cuts figured in its larger scheme for defending Europe. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and Army Gen. Christopher LaNeve, who is serving as the acting head of the service, didn’t mention the move in their Tuesday testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
A Pentagon spokesman declined to comment. A senior NATO military official said that the alliance will maintain a strong presence on its eastern flank.
Some Army officials were surprised that Hegseth would cancel a deployment that was already under way, officials said. U.S. European Command had recommended that the more than 4,000 soldiers of the armored brigade wouldn’t be backfilled after its regular nine-month rotation, according to DOD officials, but hadn’t urged that the deployment be halted midstream.
Earlier this month, the brigade held a ceremony at Fort Hood, Texas, where it is based, to herald its impending deployment. “When an armored brigade combat team deploys forward, it sends a clear and unmistakable signal,” Maj. Gen. Thomas Felty, who commands the 1st Cavalry Division, said at the event.
“As U.S. forces focus on Homeland defense and the Indo-Pacific, our allies and partners elsewhere will take primary responsibility for their own defense with critical but more limited support from American forces,” the Pentagon said in its National Defense Strategy, which was issued in January.
The move is likely to resonate in Poland where much of the brigade was expected to have been deployed.
The Polish minister of national defense, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, said in a social-media post that the cancellation “does not concern Poland,” adding that “it relates to the previously announced change in the presence of some U.S. Armed Forces in Europe.”
“The rapidly developing capabilities of the Polish Armed Forces and the presence of U.S. forces in Poland strengthen NATO’s eastern flank,” he said.
The cuts that the Trump administration is projecting will bring U.S. troop levels in Europe back to where they were in 2022 before Russia invaded Ukraine. It comes on the heels of other moves the Pentagon has taken to reduce the American presence on the continent.
Earlier this month, the Pentagon said it was reversing a Biden administration decision to deploy an Army battalion with long-range conventional missiles to Germany.
That deployment, which was to take place this year, had been announced by the U.S. and Germany at the 2024 North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Washington. Last year the Trump administration decided to remove an American combat brigade from Romania.
Write to Michael R. Gordon at michael.gordon@wsj.com and Lara Seligman at lara.seligman@wsj.com
