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The White House has not decided whether to endorse a deal the UK has hammered out with Mauritius over the Chagos Islands that has national security implications for a critical UK-US military base on Diego Garcia.
Jonathan Powell, UK national security adviser, held talks in Washington with his US counterpart Mike Waltz on Thursday about the Chagos deal. Ahead of his visit, London had hoped that the Trump administration might have arrived at a conclusion, but people familiar with the situation said a review was continuing after Powell’s visit to Washington.
“The Trump administration continues to review the British government’s agreement with Mauritius and the potential implications for the Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia,” a White House official said.
The new deal between the UK and Mauritius would involve Britain leasing Diego Garcia for a 99-year period.
British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer at one point hoped to finalise the deal before President Donald Trump took office. But he opted to take a more cautious approach by presenting the deal to the Trump administration to get its blessing before finalising the agreement.
Powell was instrumental in negotiating the agreement with the Mauritians, having served as Starmer’s special envoy to the talks before the prime minister promoted him to serve as Britain’s national security adviser.
UK officials cautioned that a verdict should not be expected immediately.
“It’s right and proper that we’re engaged in consultations with the new administration,” said one British official. “Those discussions are ongoing. It is a multi-faceted issue, and the US want to understand it from a range of standpoints within their system.”
London also acknowledges that the issue is not among the top priorities of the Trump administration, which has been preoccupied with trade tariffs on imports from China, Mexico and Canada and other foreign policy issues.
As a member of Congress before entering the White House, Waltz raised questions about the negotiations over the islands in the Indian Ocean.
In a 2022 letter, he said Diego Garcia was a critical location that supported US military aircraft and ships transiting from the Philippines to the Middle East. He added that it gave US military nuclear bombers “the capability to reach maritime chokepoints, sea lanes and Chinese bases in the region”.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has discussed the matter with UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, according to people briefed on their first phone call, which took place last month. The state department and Foreign Office did not mention the territory in their readouts of the call, but the US side said Rubio raised “China’s malign influence” with his UK counterpart.
Rubio and Lammy are expected to discuss the Chagos Islands deal in person when they meet at the Munich Security Conference next weekend.
The state department said it had nothing to announce about any meeting.
On Wednesday, Starmer was forced to defend the proposed deal from heavy Tory criticism in the House of Commons. He said it was crucial to national security and to provide “legal certainty” about the status of the joint base.