Poland announced on Wednesday that it has submitted a formal request to the United States for the establishment of a permanent military base on its territory, taking advantage of President Donald Trump's decision to send 5,000 more US troops to the country.
Poland wants a permanent US military base PHOTO Shutterstock
Warsaw's move to permanently station US troops in Poland comes as Washington's military commitment to Europe appears to be waning and the continent faces a growing threat from Russia.
“We have submitted to US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth a formal proposal to establish a new permanent US military base in Poland”Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz wrote on the X platform. “The involvement of the United States in the security of Poland is not diminishing, but on the contrary, it could become even greater.”
Later, in a press conference, the Minister of Defense stated that “final decisions have not been made yet, but we are on the right track”. Warsaw will do “all that is possible” for the expansion of the American military presence, he added, stating that Polish officials are currently working on the details with their American counterparts, according to POLITICO.
The proposal brings up an older ambition of Poland. During Trump's first term in office in 2018, Warsaw proposed the creation of a permanent US military base, symbolically called “Fort Trump”offering up to $2 billion to help fund the project.
Although the initiative did not materialize, the American military presence in Poland steadily increased. Currently, approximately 10,000 US troops are stationed in the country, along with a permanent US military garrison and a missile defense base.
Kosiniak-Kamysz's request comes amid political tensions over the deployment of US troops in Europe. The Trump administration is scaling back military support for Europe and appears willing to do so in a way that produces political costs for its opponents while supporting ideological allies such as right-wing Polish President Karol Nawrocki.
The reduction in the number of US troops in Germany was announced shortly after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's criticism of the US-Israeli war in Iran. Trump has repeatedly described Poland as a “model ally” and issued threats against states that are not considered as such.
Nawrocki, politically close to Trump, said he would personally lobby the US president for additional troops in Poland, at the expense of Germany, an approach that centrist Prime Minister Donald Tusk disagrees with, the publication also notes.
However, Washington's announcement to redeploy more troops to Poland in May was welcomed across the Polish political spectrum. Tusk praised the decision, while Nawrocki thanked Trump for “friendship towards Poland”.
