The US president Donald Trump said that his country will maintain its military presence in Poland and may increase it, if so requested by Warsaw.
He made the comments during Polish President Karol Nawrocki’s visit to the White House on September 3, which centred on stalled negotiations to end the war in Ukraine and Poland’s own security concerns.
Nawrocki, making his first foreign visit since arriving in office last month was honoured with a military flyover as he arrived for the meeting.
Trump’s remarks on maintaining the US military presence in Poland, which has led the way on increasing defence spending in NATO, seem to have quashed the until now persistent rumours of the US withdrawing troops from central and eastern Europe.
Asked whether he intended to keep US soldiers in Poland, Trump said: “I think so — if anything we’ll put more there, if they want.
“They’ve long wanted a larger presence. We have some countries that have more, not too many, but they will be staying in Poland. We’re very much aligned with Poland.”
The US has a permanent presence in Poland including its V Corps in the city of Poznań, as well as a rotational presence of more than 8,000 troops that together form a key element of NATO’s mission of deterring Russian aggression.
Trump’s remarks have been welcomed on all sides of the political spectrum in Poland.
Nawrocki celebrated the fact that Poland “is not like the free riders in Europe and in NATO”.
He noted that the country’s defence budget has risen to 4,7 per cent of GDP, the highest level in NATO, adding: “We will not stop: we are going to achieve 5 per cent of GDP.”
The Polish President also welcomed the continued presence of US forces in his country, saying that it was “a signal to the whole world and to the Russian Federation, that we are together”.
After Trump’s pledge, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who heads the country’s centre-left government, wrote on X: “President Trump has just declared that the United States has no intention of withdrawing American troops from Poland, now or in the future.
“These are important words that confirm the enduring nature of our alliance.”
Radosław Sikorski, the Polish foreign minister, said it was “good that President Trump confirmed the continued stationing of US troops in Poland”.
Nawrocki, who is allied to the opposition Conservatives (PiS), had been criticised by the government for his refusal to take anyone from the government on the delegation that visited the White House. The government said it would judge the effects of the Polish President’s visit by its effects on maintaining a US military presence in Poland.
After the meeting, Nawrocki claimed the Tusk government had failed to maintain relations with the US at an adequate level and said he hoped his visit to the White House would improve matters.
Taking questions from reporters on the war in Ukraine after his meeting, Nawrocki said he had made it clear that “we don’t trust Putin”. He said it was the unambiguous position of Poland and Europe that sanctions must be applied to Russia and Ukraine must be supported.
He said Polish military procurements from the US were going well, with the first F-35 jets bought from the US set to arrive in January.
The Polish President also said his discussion with Trump had included economic and business ties, including the return of US interest in the Three Seas Initiative. That is a format for economic co-operation that involves all European Union member states between the Baltic, Adriatic and the Black Sea.
