German Defense Minister Pistorius to Meet U.S. Defense Secretary Hegseth in Washington Amid Strained Relations

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius will meet with the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in Washington this month, a surprising shift after the Pentagon chief rebuffed a visit earlier this year.

The meeting will take place as part of Pistorius’ trip to the U.S. for a rollout of F-35 warplanes purchased by Germany, according to two NATO defense officials and a U.S. defense official familiar with the planning, who were granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive topic.

The talks are significant given Hegseth’s earlier snub amid tensions between the two countries over the wars in Iran and Ukraine.

Relations have been frosty between the two countries and may have factored into Hegseth’s earlier decision not to meet with Pistorius. President Donald Trump ordered the withdrawal of 5,000 troops from Germany in May after German President Friederich Merz criticized the U.S. war with Iran. The repositioning of the troops is expected to take up to a year to complete.

It’s likely the two men will discuss a recent attempted Russian drone attack at an airport in Germany at their Sept. 15 meeting, as well as a Pentagon review of the U.S. military presence in Europe. The Trump administration is weighing a variety of options, including significant troop reductions on the continent.

Germany could feel the brunt of any reductions, given the tens of thousands of Americans stationed there along with several large bases and training ranges.

Pistorius will travel to the U.S. for a rollout ceremony in Texas for the first F-35 fighter jets scheduled for delivery to the German armed forces.

Germany still remains a major contributor to NATO and is one of Europe’s biggest buyers of U.S. weapons, including the order of 35 F-35 fighter planes and a significant purchase of eight P-8 surveillance aircraft, the first of which have already been delivered.

Germany is one of just a handful of American allies to buy the advanced submarine hunting plane, which will allow the Germany navy to assume a larger role in tracking Russian submarines and monitoring undersea cables and infrastructure in the Baltic and North Atlantic.

There is increasing worry in Europe that Russia will attack that undersea infrastructure given Moscow’s desire to lash out at Europe for supporting Ukraine. An explosives-laden drone was recently discovered at an airport in Leipzig, and the German government said the device was made by Russia.

Hegseth and Pistorius met previously, at the NATO summit in Turkey in July and last summer during a visit at the Pentagon. Several months after those meetings, the Trump administration approved the sale of long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles to Germany.

There are 38,000 U.S. troops stationed in Germany, which also serves as the home base for U.S. European and Africa commands. It’s the largest deployment of American forces in Europe.