Martin Schulz wants US nuclear weapons out of Germany

There are an estimated 20 US nuclear warheads at a military base in western Germany.

Martin Schulz, leader of the German Social Democratic party (SPD), kicks off his election campaign tour at a rally in Bremen, on August 21, 2017 | Joerg Sarbach/AFP via Getty Images

Martin Schulz, the leader of the German Social Democrats (SPD), on Tuesday said that if he wins next month’s election he will ask the U.S. to withdraw its nuclear weapons from Germany.

“As chancellor, I will commit Germany to having the nuclear weapons stationed here withdrawn from our country,” Schulz pledged at a campaign rally in the southwestern city of Trier, weeks before the vote on September 24.

There are believed to be about 20 U.S. nuclear warheads at a military base in Büchel, western Germany.

In his Trier speech, Schulz spoke out against raising military spending to a NATO target of 2 percent of GDP, as called for by U.S. President Donald Trump.

“Trump demands that 2 percent of GDP — €30 billion — should go to military spending, and [chancellor Angela] Merkel agreed to that without asking German citizens,” he said.

“The upper limit for nuclear weapons in our country must be 0,” Schulz later tweeted.

A opinion poll published Tuesday put the SPD on 24.5 percent support, well behind Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union on 39.5 percent.

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