Donald Trump has softened his stance on the UK’s plan to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, describing the deal as the “best” that Prime Minister Keir Starmer could make, following a phone call between the two leaders. The US president had previously labelled the handover an “act of great stupidity” on social media last month, linking it to his calls for the US to acquire Greenland.
Under the agreement, Britain will cede sovereignty over the British Indian Ocean Territory to Mauritius but retain a 99-year lease for the joint US-UK military base on Diego Garcia. Trump endorsed the deal when Starmer visited the White House last year, but his recent Truth Social posts had threatened to undermine the arrangement.
After their “very productive” call on Thursday, Trump wrote on Truth Social that Diego Garcia is “of great importance to the National Security of the United States” and that he understood the deal was “the best he could make”. He added a caveat, stating he reserved the right to “militarily secure and reinforce the American presence” if the lease ever fell apart or if operations were endangered by “fake claims or environmental nonsense”.
A Downing Street spokesperson said the leaders agreed on the importance of the deal for the base, which remains vital to shared security interests, and that the UK and US would continue to work closely on its implementation. The Conservative Party’s shadow foreign secretary, Priti Patel, criticised the deal as a “critical weakness” and a “massive strategic blunder”, vowing to continue opposing it.
Trump’s reversal on the Chagos Islands follows a similar softening of his plans to take control of Greenland, after talks with NATO’s secretary-general last month led to a “framework of a future deal”.
