Trump rows back his criticism of UK’s Chagos Islands deal

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Donald Trump on Thursday rowed back his previous criticism of the UK’s plan to transfer ownership of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, even as he said the US would retain the right to secure Diego Garcia militarily.

“I understand that the deal Prime Minister [Sir Keir] Starmer has made, according to many, the best he could make,” the US president wrote on his Truth Social platform, adding he had held “very productive discussions” with his British counterpart.

The comments mark a shift from last month, when Trump accused Britain of “great stupidity” and “weakness” over the deal to hand sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, including the joint US-UK military base of Diego Garcia, to Mauritius.

Trump had said he was “against” what he saw as the UK leasing and selling the islands, and that London “should keep it”. “I don’t know why they’re doing [it] — do they need money?” he said in January.

At the time he cited the UK plan as a reason for the US to secure Greenland, although he has since backed down from his threats to seize the vast Arctic island by force.

In his Truth Social post on Thursday about the Chagos Islands, Trump also said: “If the lease deal, sometime in the future, ever falls apart, or anyone threatens or endangers US operations and forces at our Base, I retain the right to Militarily secure and reinforce the American presence in Diego Garcia.”

Diego Garcia is a key strategic atoll for the the US military in the Indo-Pacific region, with a deep-water port that can accommodate aircraft carriers and the runways necessary to launch warplanes such as stealth B-2 bombers. It is also important for surveillance and intelligence gathering.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump “understands prime minister Starmer’s position, and he supports it, but as the president reiterated . . . of course, the US reserves the right to protect our assets”.

Downing Street said on Thursday that Starmer and Trump “agreed on the importance of the deal to secure the joint UK–US base on Diego Garcia, which remains vital to shared security interests”.

The leaders also agreed that the UK and US “will continue to work closely on the implementation of the deal they agreed”, a spokesperson for Starmer added.

The UK agreement to transfer ownership of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, unveiled last year, was initially praised by Washington. US secretary of state Marco Rubio said in 2025 that the Trump administration “welcomes the historic agreement”.

After Trump last month railed against the UK plan, catching Downing Street off guard, London and Washington reopened discussions about the agreement.

Starmer claimed last month that Trump’s sudden disapproval of the agreement was “for the express purpose of putting pressure” on the UK over the future of Greenland, part of the kingdom of Denmark.

Dame Emily Thornberry, Labour chair of the House of Commons foreign affairs committee, said it “looks like [Trump] is kicking up a storm of bluster to cover the fact that he is backing down from his recent opposition to the deal”.

The Conservatives have opposed the Chagos Islands agreement as an “absolutely terrible deal for Britain” and warned on Thursday they would continue to fight it in parliament. 

Dame Priti Patel, Tory shadow foreign secretary, said “the lease could fall apart, leaving our national security and that of our allies in even greater doubt”.

Additional reporting by Lauren Fedor in Washington and Robert Wright in London