By Ginika Igboke
President Donald Trump on Jan. 20 sharply criticized the United Kingdom’s decision to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, calling the move an “act of total weakness” and warning that it could undermine U.S. national security.
Trump made the remarks in a post on Truth Social, where he also took aim at the UK’s handling of Diego Garcia—the largest island in the archipelago and the site of a major joint U.S.–UK military base. He argued that the decision signals Western vulnerability to strategic rivals and tied it to his long-standing call for the United States to acquire 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,” Trump wrote.
He added that “China and Russia have noticed this act of total weakness” and said they “only recognize strength.” Trump described the UK’s decision as part of a broader pattern that, in his view, reinforces the strategic case for acquiring Greenland.
The UK agreed in May to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, a small Indian Ocean archipelago, to Mauritius after decades of legal and diplomatic pressure. The agreement, signed in October 2025 following years of negotiations and consultations with Washington, would leave the British–U.S. naval and bomber base on Diego Garcia under UK control for at least 99 years, ensuring continued access for U.S. forces.
The base is regarded by the United States as a critical hub for military operations across the Middle East, East Africa, and the Indo-Pacific. Britain’s Labour government has argued that the agreement was necessary to safeguard the long-term operation of the base after a series of international court rulings weakened the UK’s legal position.
In May 2025, the Trump administration said the deal “secures the long-term, stable, and effective operation of the joint U.S.–UK military facility at Diego Garcia.” That endorsement came despite earlier concerns raised by senior Republicans. In October 2024, Marco Rubio, then the president-elect’s pick for secretary of state, warned that the agreement could pose a “serious threat” to U.S. national security by transferring the islands to a country aligned with China.
Following Trump’s comments, a UK government spokesperson said Britain would not compromise on national security and insisted the agreement was designed to protect, not weaken, military operations.
“We acted because the base on Diego Garcia was under threat after court decisions undermined our position and would have prevented it operating as intended in future,” the spokesperson said. “This deal secures the operations of the joint U.S.–UK base on Diego Garcia for generations, with robust provisions for keeping its unique capabilities intact and our adversaries out.”
The spokesperson added that the agreement has been publicly welcomed by the United States, Australia, and other members of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, as well as partners including India, Japan, and South Korea.
UK Lawmakers React
UK lawmakers have been debating legislation to implement the Chagos agreement since the summer of 2025. The Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill is now in the final stages of parliamentary consideration and is expected to return to the House of Commons for a final vote.
Conservative shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel welcomed Trump’s intervention in a Jan. 20 post on X, saying it echoed long-standing Conservative opposition to the deal and urging Prime Minister Keir Starmer to abandon it.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage also praised Trump’s comments, saying in a post that the president had effectively “vetoed” what he described as the surrender of the Chagos Islands. In a separate message, Farage claimed U.S. officials had been misled about the UK’s legal position.
Mauritius, which gained independence from Britain in 1968, has long argued that the Chagos Islands were unlawfully separated from its territory prior to independence. The dispute intensified in 2019, when the United Nations’ highest court issued an advisory opinion stating that Britain’s administration of the islands was unlawful.
Between 1968 and 1973, Britain forcibly removed an estimated 1,400 to 1,700 Chagossians to make way for the Diego Garcia base. Many were resettled in Mauritius and the Seychelles, with some later moving to the UK. British law has barred their return without official permission.
The UK has apologized for the removals and made three compensation payments, the most recent in 2016. Many Chagossians say they have been excluded from decisions about their homeland and continue to demand a greater role in determining its future.
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