"We would have to compensate for what the Americans are doing less of in Europe," Pistorius said on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

"But that can't happen overnight," Pistorius said.

The head of the Munich conference, Christoph Heusgen, told German radio earlier on Friday that "I suspect that today the American Vice President (JD Vance) will announce that a large part of the American troops will be withdrawn from Europe".

The Trump administration has argued it needs to refocus its strategic posture away from Europe and to Asia to face its main adversary China.

Pistorius said that "to believe that we could compensate within a year for what the Americans are doing less of in a few months is illusory, it won't work".

Pistorius said he had proposed a "roadmap" to US counterpart Pete Hegseth, after the two crossed paths at a NATO summit in Brussels.

The plan included a "change in burden sharing, in such a way that it is orchestrated" and "no dangerous capability gaps arise over time".

Hegseth "sees it the same way", Pistorius said.

"It would be good if we could quickly translate yesterday's verbal agreement into action," the German minister added.

Vance told reporters in Munich that US President Donald Trump saw Europe playing a bigger role in its own defence and that Germany had a big part to play.

"Obviously, Germany, being the biggest economy in Europe, is going to have a major role to play there," Vance said.

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