US President Donald Trump says Washington and Warsaw are making progress towards establishing a permanent US Army base in Poland, with Polish officials indicating that the choice of location has now been narrowed to two possible sites.
Trump said on Thursday that talks were advancing and suggested an announcement on the location could follow soon.
“If this happens, the location will be announced very soon. This will be a historic step for our Great U.S./Polish Alliance,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
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Polish President Karol Nawrocki responded by saying Warsaw was ready to continue strengthening defence cooperation with the United States and would work to provide what he described as the best possible location for the base.
🇵🇱🇺🇸 Trump says “major progress” has been made toward establishing a permanent US Army base in Poland — with the location potentially to be announced “very soon”.
— Poland 24 🇵🇱 (@poland24com) September 17, 2026
The US president credited the “bold leadership” of Polish President Karol Nawrocki and called the move a potentially… pic.twitter.com/Bk0if7nNBd
The development would represent a further shift in the US military posture in Poland, which has spent years seeking to convert more of the American presence on NATO’s eastern flank from rotational deployments into permanent stationing.
No final agreement or location has yet been announced.
Two locations reportedly remain
Marcin Przydacz, head of the Polish president’s International Policy Bureau, said the process of selecting a site was in its final stages.
According to the presidential office, the choice has been narrowed to two locations in Poland, with details covering the deployment of units and equipment expected to be announced within the coming weeks.
Przydacz described the issue as one of the presidency’s main security priorities and said political agreement had been achieved, with implementation work now under way.
A day later, Zbigniew Bogucki, head of Nawrocki’s presidential chancellery, said Poland was “closer than ever” to securing a permanent American base.
Bogucki cautioned, however, that important details still had to be finalised through diplomatic and military discussions.
The Polish side has not publicly identified the two locations under consideration.
Poland has pushed for permanent US troops
Poland has hosted thousands of American troops for years, particularly following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The presidential office has previously described the current American force in Poland as around 10,000 personnel, much of it operating through rotational deployments, and has made conversion to a larger permanent presence a strategic objective.
Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said in June that the US Department of Defense was open to Poland’s proposal for a permanent presence, although no decision had then been made. The discussion came as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth launched a wider review of US troop deployments in Europe.
That review has created uncertainty in parts of Europe over whether Washington could reduce troop numbers on the continent as the Trump administration pushes European NATO members to assume more responsibility for their own defence.
A permanent base in Poland would move in the opposite direction by deepening the long-term American military footprint on NATO’s eastern flank.
The US already has a permanent Army structure in Poland
The term “permanent base” requires some distinction because the US Army already maintains permanent infrastructure and command structures in Poland.
US Army Garrison Poland was formally established in 2023 and is headquartered at Camp Kościuszko in Poznań. It became the first permanent US Army garrison in Poland and supports installations including Poznań, Powidz and Świętoszów.
The first permanently assigned US soldiers also arrived in Poznań in 2023 as part of the V Corps forward headquarters.
At the same time, large combat formations operating in Poland have continued to rotate through the country rather than being permanently stationed there.
US Army Garrison Poland currently supports thousands of soldiers across multiple sites, including rotational forces and permanently assigned personnel.
The proposal now being discussed therefore appears to concern a broader permanent basing arrangement rather than the creation of an American military presence in Poland from scratch.
A long-standing Polish objective
Securing a larger permanent American force has been a Polish security objective across successive governments.
Warsaw sees US troops as a central component of deterrence against Russia, alongside Poland’s own rapid military expansion and NATO deployments elsewhere on the eastern flank.
Nawrocki has made the issue a particularly prominent part of his relationship with Trump.
His advisers say discussions accelerated during meetings with the US administration earlier this year. In July, Przydacz said officials at the White House, State Department and National Security Council had given a political “green light” to moving from rotational towards permanent American basing.
Trump’s latest statement is more explicit than previous public US comments, but it remains conditional.
His wording — “if this happens” — means the agreement should not yet be treated as final.
Announcement comes amid heightened concern over Russia
The timing also gives the announcement wider significance in Poland.
Trump published his statement on 17 September, the anniversary of the Soviet Union’s 1939 invasion of Poland, while Polish officials were issuing fresh warnings about contemporary Russian threats.
Bogucki highlighted that symbolism and linked the prospective US base to Poland’s current security concerns.
The announcement also followed a series of Russian attacks close to Poland’s border with Ukraine and renewed Polish warnings about possible hybrid pressure against NATO countries.
Poland has been reinforcing border infrastructure, scrambling aircraft during major Russian strikes on Ukraine and investing heavily in air defence, armour and long-range weapons.
For Warsaw, a further permanent American deployment would add another layer to that deterrence strategy.
But until Washington and Warsaw announce the chosen location, force composition and legal arrangements, the project remains an advanced negotiation rather than a completed basing decision.
