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US President Donald Trump has described the UK’s deal to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and lease back a key military base as an “act of great stupidity”, months after he endorsed the move.
The UK signed the £3.4bn ($4.6bn) agreement in May, under which it will retain control of a UK-US military base on the largest of the islands, Diego Garcia.
Trump previously indicated he was prepared to back the deal, with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio hailing it a “monumental achievement”.
In a social media post on Tuesday, the US president explicitly tied the deal to his current efforts to acquire Greenland, saying it was “another in a very long line of National Security reasons” for his stance.
“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,” he said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
“There is no doubt that China and Russia have noticed this act of total weakness,” Trump added.
He said: “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.”
Under the deal, the UK agreed to hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, while retaining control of a UK-US military base on Diego Garcia – the largest of the islands.
The 99-year lease back of Diego Garcia would cost the UK £101m a year, Sir Keir said at the time, adding that it was necessary to protect the base from “malign influence”.
Before signing the deal, the UK offered Trump an effective veto, because of its implications for US security.
Allies of the president had criticised the plan, but during a meeting with Sir Keir in the Oval Office last February, Trump said “I think we’ll be inclined to go along with your country”.
After the deal was signed in May, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement that Washington “welcomed” the deal.
He added that it secured the “long-term, stable, and effective operation of the joint U.S.-UK military facility at Diego Garcia”, which he described as a “critical asset for regional and global security.”