By Phil Stewart
May 14 (Reuters) - The Pentagon has canceled plans to temporarily deploy 4,000 U.S.-based troops to Poland, two U.S. officials said, a surprise decision that renews questions about President Donald Trump's expected troop cuts in Europe.
A Pentagon spokesperson declined comment, a lawmaker said the decision had not yet been notified to Congress, and no formal announcement has been made.
The decision, first reported by Army Times, came just two weeks after the Pentagon announced it was withdrawing 5,000 troops from NATO ally Germany, in part due to a widening rift over the Iran war between President Donald Trump and Europe.
One U.S. official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, suggested the Poland decision was part of a near-term solution to ultimately allow for the previously announced drawdown in Germany, which hosts 35,000 U.S. forces. That would suggest the troops that were meant to temporarily deploy to Poland might come from elsewhere.
Still, the U.S. has been reviewing its troop presence in Europe and has long been expected to scale it back, following demands from Trump that NATO take a larger role in the defense of Europe. The Pentagon has not yet detailed how it envisions future troop laydowns across the continent.
Trump has also been angered that European allies did not join the U.S. war against Iran, and sparred with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who last month said Iranians were humiliating the U.S. in negotiations.
Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters the Poland decision appeared to be a surprise.
"As far as I know, we weren't notified about it," she told reporters.
When the Germany withdrawal was announced, a senior U.S. official said it would bring U.S. troop levels in Europe back to roughly pre-2022 levels, before Russia's invasion of Ukraine triggered a buildup by then-President Joe Biden.
The latest decisions to withdraw troops also came amid increasing pressure from Washington on European countries to raise defense spending, and accusations that reliance on U.S. forces had allowed them to neglect their own militaries.
Reuters exclusively reported last month an internal Pentagon email that outlined options to punish NATO allies that Washington believes failed to support U.S. operations in the war with Iran, including suspending Spain from NATO and reviewing the U.S. position on Britain's claim to the Falkland Islands.
Alarmed by Trump's past criticism of NATO, lawmakers from both parties last year backed a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, barring troop levels in Europe from falling below 76,000. Trump signed the measure into law in December.
However, the administration has some leeway. The NDAA provision allows the president to cut troop levels below 76,000 if he certifies that he has consulted with NATO allies and provides independent assessments of how it would affect U.S. security, the alliance and deterrence of Russian aggression.
Late last year, there were about 85,000 U.S. troops in Europe.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart; additional reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
