WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday criticised the United Kingdom’s decision to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, calling it an act of “great stupidity” and linking it to his broader push to take over Greenland.
Trump, who previously supported the deal, said relinquishing the strategically important Indian Ocean archipelago undermined US national security and invited attention from China and Russia.
The US President termed the UK government’s decision an “act of stupidity” and said that it shows why he needs to take over Greenland.
The British government defended its decision to hand sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
“Shockingly, our ‘brilliant’ NATO Ally, the United Kingdom, is currently planning to give away the Island of Diego Garcia, the site of a vital US Military Base, to Mauritius, and to do so FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER,” he said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.
“There is no doubt that China and Russia have noticed this act of total weakness.”
“The UK giving away extremely important land is an act of GREAT STUPIDITY, and is another in a very long line of National Security reasons why Greenland has to be acquired,” Trump said.
Tensions over Greenland
The criticism from Trump was a rebuff to efforts by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to calm tensions over Greenland and patch up a frayed trans-Atlantic relationship.
Starmer on Monday called Trump’s statements about taking over Greenland “completely wrong,” but called for the rift to be “resolved through calm discussion.”
The British government said Tuesday that despite the president’s post, it believes the US still supports the Chagos deal.
Cabinet Minister Pat McFadden said that a flurry of social media posts from Trump “criticizing a number of world leaders” showed the president “is frustrated right now” as European allies push back on his desire for Greenland.
“I don’t really believe this is about Chagos. I think it’s about Greenland,” McFadden said.
Remote but strategic
The United Kingdom and Mauritius signed a deal in May to give Mauritius sovereignty over the Chagos Islands after two centuries under British control, though the UK will pay Mauritius at least 120 million pounds ($160 million) a year to lease back the island of Diego Garcia, where the US base is located, for at least 99 years.
The US government welcomed the agreement at the time, saying it “secures the long-term, stable, and effective operation of the joint U.S.-U.K. military facility at Diego Garcia.”
In recent years, the United Nations and its top court have urged Britain to return the islands to Mauritius, and the British government says it’s acting to protect the security of the base from international legal challenge.
A government spokesperson said that “the U.K. will never compromise on our national security,” and “this deal secures the operations of the joint U.S.-U.K. base on Diego Garcia for generations, with robust provisions for keeping its unique capabilities intact and our adversaries out.”
Islanders who were displaced from the islands to make way for the US base say they weren’t consulted and worry the deal will make it harder for them to go home.
The US has described the Diego Garcia base, which is home to about 2,500 mostly American personnel, as “an all but indispensable platform” for security operations in the Middle East, South Asia and East Africa.
The Chagos Islands have been under British control since 1814, when they were ceded by France.
Britain split the islands away from Mauritius, a former British colony, in 1965, and evicted as many as 2,000 people from the islands so the US military could build the Diego Garcia base.
An estimated 10,000 displaced Chagossians and their descendants now live primarily in Britain, Mauritius and the Seychelles.
Some have fought unsuccessfully in UK courts for many years for the right to go home.
The UK-Mauritius deal calls for a resettlement fund to be created for displaced islanders to help them move back to the islands — apart from Diego Garcia.
