Donald Trump Rows Back Criticism On Keir Starmer's Chagos Deal
Donald Trump has now backed Keir Starmer’s Chagos deal once again just weeks after attacking it.
The UK government announced last year that it was going to pay Mauritius £9 billion over the next 99 years so the UK-US military base at Diego Garcia will continue to operate as it does at the moment.
At the height of his row with Europe over control of Greenland last month, the US president accused the UK of giving away the site of “vital US military base” for “NO REASON WHATSOEVER” – despite appearing to be content with the deal at the end of 2025.
But, after a phone call with the prime minister on Thursday, Trump U-turned again, and now seems much more at ease with the plan.
In a post on TruthSocial, he wrote: “I understand that the deal prime minister Starmer has made, according to many, the best he could make.
“However, if the lease deal, sometime in the future, ever falls apart of 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.
“Let it be known that I will never allow our presence on a base as important as this to ever be undermined or threatened by fake claims or environmental nonsense.
“Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
The prime minister reportedly spoke to Trump about the “importance of the deal to secure the joint UK-US base on Diego Garcia, which remains vital to shared security interests”.
The two leaders agreed that the UK and US “will continue to work closely on the implementation of the deal”, according to Downing Street’s readout of the call.
No.10 will be breathing a huge sigh of relief at the president’s latest change of heart, considering Trump had condemned Starmer’s decision to give up the islands as “an act of great stupidity” in January.
The president said: “There is no doubt that China and Russia have noticed this act of total weakness.”
He added: “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.”
The outburst stunned the Westminster at the time and there were concerns about the future of the so-called “special relationship” between the US and UK.
But, unlike the European Union, Starmer ruled out imposing retaliatory tariffs on America, even if Trump went ahead with his threat to slap 10% import charges on British goods from February 1.
And, once Trump had supposedly worked up a “framework of a future deal” with Nato over Greenland, he dropped the tariff threat.