The Bonnier newspaper Expressen reports that the US Army will no longer participate in the planning of military exercises in Europe.
The Trump administration has previously announced that it wants to reduce the US military presence on the continent and exercises in Sweden are also expected to be affected by the decision.
The newspaper refers to several sources it has spoken to, but admits that information is currently “scarce”.
The sources explain that exercises with the US military in Europe will be carried out as usual in 2025 – but that later exercises that are currently on the “drawing board” may be organized without US soldiers or with very limited US participation.
The background is said to be that the Trump administration wants to sharply cut back on defense spending in Europe and instead increase military spending in the Indo-Pacific region, where relations with China are becoming increasingly frosty.
US participation in European military exercises has been very common in the past – including for Sweden long before joining NATO. Last year, Swedish soldiers participated alongside US units in a number of exercises, including in Norway, Motala, the Stockholm archipelago, Gothenburg and Gotland.
The Swedish Armed Forces do not want to comment
– If this is true, it is in line with what has been reported that the Pentagon will not spend more money on European command, African command and Central command, i.e. Europe, Africa and the Middle East, says the strongly pro-Ukrainian Lieutenant Colonel Joakim Paasikivi, who is almost always the one who gets to comment on military events in the Swedish establishment media.
– This naturally reduces the chances of having joint operations with the Americans, he adds.
The Swedish Armed Forces do not want to comment on the information and claim that they have “good cooperation” with the US, which is an “important military partner”.
“Allied Command Operations continues to plan and conduct exercises with all 32 NATO allies to increase our collective readiness to deter potential threats to the Euro-Atlantic region and defend its one billion inhabitants. These exercises include US forces, but also see more and more European forces training solely with other European forces, as during last month’s Steadfast Dart”, a spokesperson for NATO military headquarters Shape writes to the newspaper.
US representatives leave the UN climate fund
Meanwhile, it has been announced that the two US board members of the UN climate fund are stepping down immediately – and will not be replaced by other representatives.
The Trump administration has already withdrawn the equivalent of $40 billion of US funding to the fund, which is tasked with providing financial support to developing countries allegedly particularly affected by climate change and natural disasters.
Earlier in January, Donald Trump also announced that the US was withdrawing from the much-criticized UN climate agreement (the Paris Agreement), in which signatories pledged, among other things, to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and keep “global warming” below two degrees.
Trump tried to leave the Paris Agreement back in 2017 – but his successor Joe Biden prevented this.
