The day was dominated by Trump's escalating threats against Germany, with multiple outlets reporting his demand to withdraw 'far more than 5,000' US troops and possibly cancel medium-range missile deployment. In the morning, Spiegel, Sueddeutsche, and Welt led with the troop reduction, while merkur.de highlighted experts' view that the missile cancellation is more damaging. By early afternoon, FR and WAZ framed the moves as a gift to Putin, and FAZ warned of NATO erosion. In the evening, Merz downplayed the crisis in a Welt interview, calling it 'not new,' while Bild reported Trump ordering 'Project Freedom' to clear the Strait of Hormuz. The coalition's unpopularity persisted, with Bild giving Merz a failing grade and Junge Freiheit reporting a Merz confrontation with a senior citizen.