Trump Attacks Deal on Chagos Handover; Mauritius, UK Come to its Defence

New Delhi: United States President Donald Trump has attacked the United Kingdom's decision to hand sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius – a move which his own government had supported less than a year ago.

The deal allowed the UK to retain long-term control of the Diego Garcia base, which it uses jointly with the US.

Later on Tuesday, Mauritius reasserted its sovereignty over the archipelago and noted that the May 2025 decision handing over the islands was “negotiated, concluded and signed exclusively” between the UK and Mauritius.

British minister Stephen Doughty on Tuesday defended the handover as securing Diego Garcia for the US and the UK and said that his government would ‘remind the Trump administration of the deal's strength in the coming days’.

India, which had consistently backed Mauritius's campaign to get back Chagos, had welcomed the signing of the deal between Mauritius and the UK, last year in May. Mauritius is perhaps India's closest partner in the Indian Ocean and The Wire has analysed earlier how India stands to gain a stake in the region thanks to the decision, with New Delhi agreeing to support the island nation's surveillance of its expanded territorial waters.

Hosting Mauritian Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called it “a historic milestone for Mauritius’s sovereignty” and said India had “always supported decolonisation and stood firmly with Mauritius in this journey”.

There has been no reaction from India on Trump’s post so far.

‘For no reason whatsoever’

Early today, Trump called the deal an act of great stupidity that shows why he needs to take over Greenland.

“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 social media platform Truth Social. “There is no doubt that China and Russia have noticed this act of total weakness.”

“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,” Trump said.

The US government under Trump had welcomed the agreement and said last year that the deal “secures the long-term, stable and effective operation of the joint US-UK military facility at Diego Garcia.”

“We commend both the United Kingdom and Mauritius for their leadership, vision, and commitment to ensure that Diego Garcia remains fully operational for the duration of this agreement. We look forward to working closely with both governments to strengthen our collaboration in support of regional peace and stability,” it said.

Just before the signing of the deal, during a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the Oval Office last year, Trump had said “I think we'll be inclined to go along with your country” on the deal.

Within Indian diplomatic circles, the sentiment was also rife that it was India which had played a crucial role in the US professing its support to the deal.

Response in Mauritius, Britain

Mauritius's attorney general Gavin Glover said in a communique on Tuesday that his government had noted Trump's remarks but that the “Chagos Islands agreement was negotiated, concluded and signed exclusively between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Mauritius”.

“We therefore expect the United Kingdom to complete the legislative process already underway in the House of Commons … in order to allow for the ratification of the treaty as soon as possible,” Glover said.

The dispute over the islands has “remained a source of profound injustice” for over six decades but the matter “should no longer be subject to debate” given that Port Louis's sovereignty over them has been “unambiguously recognised” in international law.

Speaking in the House of Commons, British minister of state for Europe, North America and Overseas Territories Stephen Doughty said that Whitehall would “have discussions” with the Trump administration “in the coming days to remind them of the strength of this deal”, which includes “how it secures the base for the United Kingdom and the United States”.

“… The deal had to be done because the base [Diego Garcia] was under threat. Courts had already begun making decisions that weakened our position. And without the deal, as I've said many times, we faced the prospect of further wide-ranging litigation which could have rendered the base inoperable,” Doughty said when challenged by opposition MPs over Trump's remarks.

A spokesperson for Starmer when asked by the BBC if he could ‘categorically’ state that the Chagos deal would materialise even as it is going through parliament said: “Yes. Categorically, our position hasn't changed.”

The International Court of Justice, the UN's highest court, had ruled against the UK's control of the islands in February 2019 and ordered London to hand it back “as rapidly as possible”. This legal opinion was in addition to the March 2015 ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration which held that the marine protected area that Britain had declared around the Chagos violated international law.

At the same time, Trump's post has found support from British opposition parties, who feel that giving up the islands, which have been British territory for two centuries, puts them at risk of interference by China and Russia.

Among those who supported Trump in this sentiment were Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch, who wrote on social media that “unfortunately” Trump is right and that Starmer's “plan to give away the Chagos Islands is a terrible policy that weakens UK security and hands away our sovereign territory. And to top it off, makes us and our NATO allies weaker in the face of our enemies.”

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, a Trump ally, said: “Thank goodness Trump has vetoed the surrender of the Chagos islands.”

This article was updated with more information at 12:13 AM on January 21.

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