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London — President Trump has called the U.K.’s decision to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius — a deal his administration previously supported — an act of “great stupidity” that further justified his desire for the U.S. to acquire Greenland. One of the islands, Diego Garcia, is the site of a key U.K.-U.S. military base in the Indian Ocean.
“Shockingly, our ‘brilliant’ NATO Ally, the United Kingdom, is currently planning to give away the Island of Diego Garcia, the site of a vital U.S. Military Base, to Mauritius, and to do so FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER,” Mr. Trump said early Tuesday on his own Truth Social platform. “There is no doubt that China and Russia have noticed this act of total weakness. These are International Powers who only recognize STRENGTH, which is why the United States of America, under my leadership, is now, after only one year, respected like never before. 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. Denmark and its European Allies have to DO THE RIGHT THING. Thank you for your attention to this matter. PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP.”
Mr. Trump issued his statement as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Mike Johnson, a Republican, was in the U.K. to address the British parliament, where he told lawmakers the U.S. and U.K. had “always been able to work through our differences calmly as friends. We will continue to do that. I want to assure you this morning that that is still the case.”
The Chagos Islands were separated from Mauritius, which was then a British colony, in 1965.
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The U.K. purchased the islands for the equivalent of around $4 million, CBS News partner BBC News reported, but Mauritius had long argued that it was forced to give the islands away in order to achieve its independence in 1968. The U.K. invited the U.S. to build a military base on the island of Diego Garcia, and it has become a cornerstone of American defense infrastructure in the vast Indian Ocean region.
In 2019, the International Court of Justice issued a non-binding ruling that called on the U.K. to give up control of the Chagos Islands, saying it had wrongfully forced out the people living on Diego Garcia to make way for the military base.
That ruling, in part, prompted the deal reached in 2024 for the U.K. to hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. As part of the agreement, Britain got to maintain control of the military base on Diego Garcia through a 99-year lease, at a cost to the U.K. of about $136 million per year.
The Trump administration previously supported the Chagos Islands deal, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio issuing a statement in May last year saying, “following a comprehensive interagency review, the Trump Administration determined that this agreement secures the long-term, stable, and effective operation of the joint U.S.-UK military facility at Diego Garcia.”
Rubio said at the time that Mr. Trump had “expressed his support for this monumental achievement during his meeting with Prime Minister Starmer at the White House,” calling the base “a critical asset for regional and global security.”
In a statement sent to CBS News on Tuesday, a U.K. government spokesperson said Britain “will never compromise on our national security,” noting that the agreement with Mauritius was struck “because the base on Diego Garcia was under threat after court decisions undermined our position and would have prevented it operating as intended in future.”
“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,” the British government said, noting that it had previously been “publicly welcomed by the U.S., Australia and all other Five Eyes allies, as well as key international partners including India, Japan and South Korea.”
The Five Eyes refers to the close defense and intelligence partnership between the U.S., Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
