‘Work more with US allies’: UK to review Chagos Islands deal after Trump's ‘terrible deal’ remark to PM Andy Burnham

LONDON: Britain has announced plans to revise its agreement to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, following US president Donald Trump's recent criticism of the deal, according to a minister's confirmation on Wednesday. The decision comes after Trump called the agreement "terrible" during his first meeting with UK leader Andy Burnham, who succeeded Keir Starmer in July.

Despite the UK's initial support for the pact, which involved handing over the Indian Ocean archipelago to Mauritius and leasing a strategic US-UK military base on Diego Garcia, Trump later denounced it as an "act of great stupidity." The UK had paused the plans in April due to vocal opposition from the Trump administration. In response, Burnham stated that Britain would work hard to find a resolution to the contentious matter in collaboration with US partners.

Defence Secretary Wes Streeting affirmed that Trump's opposition is well-known but emphasized that his stance on the current draft of the Chagos deal will not change. The annual payments to lease the military base from Mauritius would not be made at this stage, amounting to at least £120 million (US$159 million). Starmer negotiated the deal, arguing that international legal rulings cast doubt on Britain's ownership of the Chagos Islands, and only a deal with Mauritius would ensure continued US and UK use of the base.

The International Court of Justice recommended the archipelago's return to Mauritius in 2019. While opposition Conservative party defense spokesman James Cartlidge called for the agreement to be "binned entirely," Streeting cautioned against a dismissive approach towards one of the nation's most sensitive national security assets.

British Foreign Policy Group think-tank senior researcher Jack Pannell suggested that Burnham's focus with Trump would be on major international issues such as AI regulation, Ukraine, and the Middle East, and that the chances of a breakthrough on the Chagos issue are slim.