President Trump on Tuesday defended his sharply worded Truth Social post blasting the United Kingdom over a controversial deal to transfer and lease back Indian Ocean islands to Mauritius — a move his own administration had formally endorsed months earlier.
Asked by a reporter about a May State Department statement praising “the historic agreement” he later criticized, Trump said he believed the terms had shifted since initial discussions.
“I think that they, you know, when they originally were going to do it, they were talking about doing some concept of ownership, but now they’re looking to essentially just do a lease and sell it,” Trump said. “And I’m against that.”
The president went on to question Britain’s motives — and whether financial pressures in London were driving the decision.
“You know, it’s not like Greenland, but it’s a reasonably important area of the globe,” he said. “But I think they should keep it. I don’t know why they’re doing it — do they need money?”
The deal centers on the Chagos Archipelago, a remote chain of islands in the Indian Ocean that Britain has controlled since separating it from Mauritius in the 1960s. Its largest island, Diego Garcia, hosts a major joint US-UK military base that has long served as a critical hub for American naval and air operations across the Middle East, Africa and the Indo-Pacific.
Britain had faced mounting international pressure to relinquish the territory, including adverse rulings and votes at the United Nations, with Mauritius arguing continued British control represented lingering colonial rule.
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Under the agreement, London would cede sovereignty over the islands while leasing Diego Garcia back to ensure uninterrupted military operations.
