During his White House meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, US President Donald Trump was asked by journalists about the Pentagon's announcement regarding the withdrawal of a significant number of US troops from Romania — a decision that appears to contradict his previous statements.
There are no disagreements between the White House and the Department of Defense
Asked directly whether the Pentagon ignored him or changed its position, Trump firmly replied that there were no disagreements between the White House and the Department of Defense.
Reporter: You said you would not withdraw troops from Europe, but now the Pentagon has announced that it will withdraw a significant number of troops from Romania – what happened, did the Pentagon ignore you or did you change your mind?
Donald Trump: No, the Pentagon doesn't ignore anything I say. We're still making changes, the total is the same, we're just moving more people. I really like Romanians, I think they're a great people. Pete, if you could say something?
Pete Hegseth: Nothing we did was uncoordinated with the White House. It's all part of our perspective on Europe, and there will be troops in Romania; it's just a change in how we rotate.
Donald Trump: The relationship with Romania is very good, right?
Pete Hegseth: Very good. And we coordinated this with Secretary General Rutte, with our allies, everyone was notified and everything was fine.
Donald Trump: The relationship with Romania is very good, the relationship with Europe is very good. I don't agree with what Europe is doing on immigration, but I agree with them on a lot of other issues. We just signed the best trade deal ever – $950 billion – and we got it because of tariffs. It's a very good deal. We were treated badly before.

