Lithuania Offers to Fund Permanent U.S. Base

Lithuania has offered to pay the costs of establishing a permanent U.S. military base if Washington approves the request, Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius said Tuesday. President Donald Trump said the United States would consider the proposal, but he did not announce a decision. The proposal would replace rotating U.S. deployments with permanent stationing. Lithuania has hosted U.S. troops through rotations since 2019, with reports describing an armored force of roughly 1,000. Accounts differ on whether deployments have continued without interruption: one report says a continuous deployment ended in June and a replacement rotation was expected later in October. Sinkevicius said he raised the proposal with U.S. envoy John Coale during a meeting in Vilnius last month. He described a permanent American presence as important to Lithuania’s deterrence and security and said Lithuania was ready to cover the associated costs if Washington made the political decision to station troops permanently. No cost estimate, proposed site, facility plan or agreed troop total has been reported.