Published On 3 Sep 2025
United States President Donald Trump has suggested that the US could step up the number of armed forces stationed in the Eastern European nation.
Speaking with reporters alongside Polish President Karol Nawrocki[1] in the White House on Wednesday, Trump said the US could contribute more to Polish security, a seeming departure from his insistence that European nations take greater responsibility for their own security[2].
“We’ll put more there if they want,” he said in the Oval Office. “We’re with Poland all the way, and we’ll help Poland protect itself.”
Nawrocki, a right-wing historian and avid Trump[3] ally who was sworn in as Poland’s new president last month, thanked Trump for his commitment to continued cooperation with his country.
“Those relations for me, for Poland, for Poles, are very important,” he said.
While questions of European security were front and centre during the Wednesday meeting, Trump touched on several other topics as well. Here are a few key takeaways.
Frustration over Ukraine
Trump continues to express frustration over diplomatic efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine that have thus far produced few results.
The US president hinted at possible measures to put greater pressure[4] on Russia if no progress is made, saying that “you’ll see things happen” if Russian President Vladimir Putin fails to take steps towards a peace deal.
“I have no message to President Putin. He knows where I stand, and he’ll make a decision one way or the other,” he said.
European allies have called for greater sanctions against Russia and pressed Trump for more details about US support for a Ukrainian “security guarantee[5]” that Kyiv sees as key to any agreement. Both the US and European allies, however, have been vague about what commitments they would be willing to make.
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Possible deployment to New Orleans
During the joint presser, Trump also touched on issues closer to home, again raising the possibility of deploying the National Guard to more US cities and justifying Tuesday’s military attack on a Venezuelan boat.
The US president continues to expand the list of major cities where he has threatened to deploy troops and federal agents, saying that he could send federal forces to New Orleans, where local officials have rejected the idea, but the state’s Republican governor is likely to be supportive.
“This is about scare tactics and politicising public safety,” said New Orleans City Council Vice President Helena Moreno, the frontrunner in the city’s mayoral race.
A judge ruled earlier this week that Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles amid a series of protests was illegal[6].
However, the ruling appears to have had little effect on Trump’s insistence that more such operations will follow, as he ramps up confrontations with cities that are seen as strongholds of Democratic opposition.
On Tuesday, he stated that he would deploy forces to other major cities such as Chicago[7] and Baltimore, despite objections from state and local officials.
Trump defends military strike on vessel in the Caribbean
Trump said that a video of a US lethal military strike[8] on a vessel in the Caribbean, which the government alleges was transporting drugs, will serve as a deterrent against drug traffickers.
“There was massive amounts of drugs coming into our country to kill a lot of people, and, everybody fully understands that,” Trump said. He added, “Obviously, they won’t be doing it again. And I think a lot of other people won’t be doing it again. When they watch that tape, they’re going to say, ‘Let’s not do this.’”
Analysts have said that the strike, which killed at least 11 people, is likely illegal and that the vessel could have been interdicted by law enforcement upon entering US waters.
“‘Being suspected of carrying drugs’ doesn’t carry a death sentence,” Adam Isacson, a defence and security analyst at the Washington Office on Latin America, a US-based think tank, said in a social media post.
But the administration has pushed a maximalist interpretation of the use of US military force against criminal organisations and drug trafficking, suggesting that more such operations could come in the future.
Leaders in Latin American countries have expressed alarm at that possibility, saying that US raids against criminal groups on their territory would be a serious violation of sovereignty.
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The Trump administration has stated, with little evidence, that those on the vessel were members of the Tren de Aragua criminal group in Venezuela, which the US designated a terrorist organisation earlier this year.
In recent days, the administration has pushed dubious links between the group and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro[9] as it massed naval forces off of South America.
References
- ^ Karol Nawrocki (www.aljazeera.com)
- ^ own security (www.aljazeera.com)
- ^ Trump (www.aljazeera.com)
- ^ greater pressure (www.aljazeera.com)
- ^ security guarantee (www.aljazeera.com)
- ^ was illegal (www.aljazeera.com)
- ^ Chicago (www.aljazeera.com)
- ^ military strike (www.aljazeera.com)
- ^ Nicolas Maduro (www.aljazeera.com)