WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. troops are in Europe to defend transatlantic security and to help project U.S. power further afield, German Ambassador Emily Haber said on Monday after President Donald Trump announced plans to cut U.S. troop levels there to 25,000.

“Our cooperation on military and security matters has always been very close and will remain so,” Haber told a virtual event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations think tank. “U.S. troops … are not there to defend Germany. They are there to defend the transatlantic security. … They are also there to project American power in Africa, in Asia.”