Trump Calls Chagos Deal 'Terrible' and Withdraws US Support

Donald Trump has publicly declared his opposition to the landmark agreement between the United Kingdom and Mauritius over the Chagos Islands, describing the deal as "terrible" and stating flatly: "I don't support it." The remarks came during Trump's first meeting with new British Prime Minister Andy Burnham in New York — a high-profile encounter that was always expected to touch on the sensitive Chagos question, given Washington's longstanding interest in the archipelago. **What is the Chagos deal?** The Chagos Islands — a remote archipelago in the central Indian Ocean — are home to Diego Garcia, one of the most strategically significant military bases in the world, jointly operated by the United States and the United Kingdom. The UK has administered the islands since 1965, when it separated them from Mauritius before granting Mauritius independence in 1968. Mauritius has long claimed sovereignty over the Chagos Islands, a position backed by a 2019 International Court of Justice advisory opinion and a 2021 UN General Assembly resolution. After years of negotiations, the UK and Mauritius reached a provisional agreement in 2024 that would transfer sovereignty of the archipelago to Mauritius, while allowing Britain — and by extension the US — to continue operating the Diego Garcia military base under a long-term lease. **Trump's position** Speaking after his private meeting with Burnham, Trump made no attempt to soften his stance. "The island is strategically very important to the US," he said, signalling that Washington views any change in control as a potential risk to its military posture in the Indian Ocean region. Despite the disagreement over Chagos, Trump said he was positive about his broader relationship with the new British prime minister. **What this means** Trump's opposition is a significant obstacle for the deal. The United States operates Diego Garcia under an agreement with the UK, meaning any transfer of sovereignty to Mauritius would require Washington's buy-in — or at least its acquiescence — for the base arrangement to continue functioning. Previous US administrations had expressed concern about the deal, particularly over the possibility that Mauritius could grant access to the islands to countries like China. Trump's blunt rejection raises fresh uncertainty over whether the agreement can survive in its current form. For Mauritius, the deal represents a decades-long diplomatic and legal struggle to reclaim territory it considers unlawfully detached before independence. Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam's government has been actively engaging with British officials — he recently met UK national security adviser Jonathan Powell in London — to push the process forward. Whether the Trump administration's opposition translates into formal US pressure on London to abandon or renegotiate the deal remains to be seen. But with the world's most powerful military now on record against it, the path to finalising the Chagos agreement has become considerably more complicated. Source: ION News