A former US president who lost the popular vote twice and whose signature foreign policy achievement was a trade war with allies has decided the UK’s Chagos Islands deal is catastrophically bad. He knows this because he negotiates. He is very good at it.
The deal itself: Britain hands the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, pays to lease back a military base, and pretends this is a win because it stops looking like colonial-era opportunism. It is the diplomatic equivalent of selling your house, then renting your bedroom back at market rates while your new landlord watches you sleep.
Trump’s position is that he could do better with Mauritius. He could also apparently do business with Andy Burnham, the Labour mayor of Greater Manchester, which he mentioned while criticizing an international treaty involving three separate governments and decades of geopolitical baggage. Why Burnham specifically? The statement does not clarify. Perhaps Trump believes Burnham has leverage over the Indian Ocean.
The actual mechanics of the deal involve basing rights, sovereignty, and the kind of legal framework that requires lawyers who have read more than one book. Trump’s criticism was that it is “terrible.” Not strategically flawed. Not diplomatically questionable. Terrible. Like a show that got cancelled.
No word yet on whether Mauritius is interested in renegotiating with someone who bankrupted a casino. The silence is deafening.