Trump Orders Cuts to U.S.-South Korea Military Drills
With U.S. forces set to scale back joint military drills with South Korea, Trump said he had ordered a substantial reduction in the exercises, calling them costly and inappropriate as he again invoked his relationship with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. He also praised a new Middle East defense pact signed by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan, casting it as a milestone for regional self-reliance. In the same post on the drills, Trump briefly floated a separate exchange with South Korea about joining denuclearization efforts toward Iran, underscoring how he continues to blend alliance management, nuclear diplomacy and personal dealmaking in a single message.
U.S.-South Korea Drills Cut
ForeignPolicyTrump said he had instructed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to substantially reduce joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises, arguing that the drills are costly and send the wrong signal. He framed the move as consistent with his relationship with Kim Jong Un, while also adding a separate aside about asking South Korea to join denuclearization efforts related to Iran.
This is a notable signal of Trump’s willingness to treat military posture as a bargaining chip rather than a fixed alliance obligation. By portraying the exercises as “hostile” and expensive, he reinforces a longstanding theme that allies should pay more and that American force presence should be justified in transactional terms. The reference to Kim Jong Un is also politically significant because it revives Trump’s familiar personal-diplomacy narrative: he presents himself as uniquely capable of calming adversaries through rapport, even while weakening the practical mechanics of deterrence. The stray mention of Iran further ties together separate foreign-policy files in a way that suggests Trump prefers to frame global security as a series of personal asks and dramatic concessions rather than institutional strategy.
“I have instructed Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to substantially reduce the Joint Military Exercises!”
“these exercises are not only costly... but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile”