President Donald Trump has said that the US and Poland are making significant progress toward establishing an American military base in Poland, saying the location could be announced soon.
Trump on Thursday credited Polish President Karol Nawrocki with advancing the effort and described the potential base as a major development in the US-Polish alliance.
"Great news! Thanks to the bold leadership of my friend, Karol Nawrocki, President of Poland, major progress is being made toward establishing a US Army base in Poland.
"If this happens, the location will be announced very soon. This will be a historic step for our great US-Polish Alliance," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
In June, Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said the US Department of Defense was open to Poland's offer to host a permanent US military presence in Poland, but that no decision had been taken.
The minister met with US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in June in Brussels, where the Pentagon chief announced a new review of America's troop deployments in Europe.
Trump's announcement comes despite his administration launching a formal review of its military presence in Europe, raising fears among allies that it could cut back its forces in European nations.
But Poland, which borders both Ukraine and Russia on NATO's eastern flank and spends around five percent of its GDP on defence, is working to strengthen the US presence on its soil.
Political will
Polish deputy defence minister Pawel Zalewski said in August that his country was discussing with the United States whether to set up a permanent US base on its territory.
"We have already completed the initial stage (of the process), not to mention the political will, which was expressed long ago," Zalewski told public broadcaster TVP.
Almost 10,000 US soldiers are currently stationed in Poland, but almost exclusively on a rotational basis.
Washington has levied heavy criticism against several European countries that refused to allow US forces to use NATO bases on their territory in their war with Iran.
Hegseth had also threatened to reduce his country's contribution to the alliance's budget if certain states refused to honour the commitments made last year at the NATO summit in The Hague.
At that summit, NATO allies pledged to devote by 2035 at least five percent of their GDP to security spending, including 3.5 percent devoted strictly to military expenditures.
