I'll quote the basis of this story off Stars and Stripes. For a number of months, it's been mostly chatter in the background and appears now to be a fairly serious topic for the Trump administration.
What Trump wants for a future military situation....you (the desiring country) that wants US troops....need to cover the full cost of 'hosting' US troops in your country, and a 50-percent 'premium'.
What this would cover? You would basically be paying for housing, heat, utility cost....then on top of that....the same identical check as a 'premium'.
The chief countries affected? South Korea, Japan, UK, Germany, Italy, Turkey, etc.
The odds of any of those countries signing up to the deal? I would suggest near 'zero'. Maybe if this was the hosting charge by itself, most would go and sign up to it.....but in effect, it's twice that number.
An attempt to just vacate forward deployments that have been locked into place since 1945? Yes, more or less.
Here's the thing....if you lessen the forward nature of the US military, you lessen tensions, and give some hint of a lesser threat. Depending on the 'enemy' (if there is one existing today), this might be a good thing or bad thing.
What'll happen in this case? It's suggested that virtually all of the US military advisers are against Trump's idea, and I suspect most of the countries will just say 'no'.....they would cover hosting costs only, but this 50-percent premium deal is too much.
If Trump is re-elected in 2020? Yeah, that's really the big question. If he wins, I suspect this policy will go forward, and South Korea will be the one first in line to either agree to the deal or discover a 3-year plan to vacate the country. After that....the NATO countries will be the next to discover the deal.
The anti-US crowd in Germany? They'd actually love the deal....to finally be rid of US troops in the country. Journalists? It's a hard position....they'd love the deal for the US to vacate, but whine along every step of the way that it was 'unfair', and the terrible Russians (who sell them natural gas) might invade any day of the week.
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