Media365
The UK is “reviewing” its Chagos Islands deal with Mauritius, British defence secretary Wes Streeting said on Wednesday, saying the decision was taken because the United States “does not support” the agreement.His remarks came a day after US President Donald Trump, who initially gave his approval to the deal but later reversed his decision, called it “terrible” during his first face-to-face meeting with the UK’s new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, at the UN General Assembly in New York City.The UK had already paused the Chagos Islands agreement in April following Trump’s change in stance.“What President Trump said yesterday wasn’t new, but I think it does provide absolute clarity that his position on this Chagos deal as currently drafted is not changing,” Streeting told the BBC, referring to Trump’s remarks during the Burnham meeting.“So we have to do more work with our American allies, with President Trump and his administration, to get the deal to a place where he can support it,” the defence secretary added.According to Streeting, the focus now would be on securing a “long-term certainty” for a joint UK-US military base on Diego Garcia, the largest island in the Chagos archipelago. The base shares its name with the island.Under the original agreement, signed in May 2025 after Trump’s approval the previous month, the UK would cede sovereignty of the archipelago to Mauritius and pay an average of £101 million ($136 million) per year to lease back the Diego Garcia base for 99 years, owing to its strategic location in the Indian Ocean.However, Trump’s U-turn in January led to the deal being paused. In addition, a final draft of the bill to transfer sovereignty of the islands had not passed the UK Parliament, as then-Prime Minister Keir Starmer came under heavy criticism from opponents who said the real cost of the deal could amount to about £35 billion, after adjusting for inflation, and risked allowing China to establish a presence on the archipelago.Mauritius argues that it was “illegally” forced to give away the Chagos Islands in 1965 as a condition for gaining independence from Britain.
