Trump Warns Of ‘Total Weakness’ In British Plan To Surrender Strategic Islands

President Donald Trump ripped into the United Kingdom on Tuesday for its plan to cede control of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean to Mauritius. 

Trump said that the deal showed “weakness” to Russia and China and would endanger a key American military base located on the island of Diego Garcia, one of the Chagos Islands. Last year, the United Kingdom inked a deal to hand control of the islands over to Mauritius. At the time, the agreement was supported by the Trump administration. 

“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 on Truth Social. “There is no doubt that China and Russia have noticed this act of total weakness. These are International Powers who only recognize STRENGTH, which is why the United States of America, under my leadership, is now, after only one year, respected like never before.”

Trump said that the deal showed the strategic necessity of the United States acquiring Greenland. 

“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,” he added. 

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent echoed that same reasoning during an appearance at the World Economic Forum on Tuesday. 

“The U.K. is signing the island over to Mauritius. So again, I can see why the president believes that for U.S. engagement we do not want another Diego Garcia on our hands,” Bessent said, referring to Trump’s Greenland aspirations. 

A spokesman for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that his “position hasn’t changed on Diego Garcia or on the treaty that’s been signed.”

The Naval base on Diego Garcia provides logistical support to American forces deployed for missions in the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf. The island is home to about 280 Navy personnel, 40 Air Force personnel, and 40 British troops. 

Trump’s State Department previously approved the agreement to return the islands to Mauritius’ control. The island of Diego Garcia would be leased to the United Kingdom for 99 years. The Trump administration determined that the deal secured “the long-term, stable, and effective operation of the joint U.S.-UK military facility at Diego Garcia,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at the time.