Greenland Acquisition Push

President Donald Trump used a new Truth Social post to condemn the U.K.’s plan to transfer sovereignty over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, calling it an act of 'GREAT STUPIDITY' and falsely suggesting Britain is 'giving away' Diego Garcia, the Indian Ocean atoll hosting a major U.S. base. The criticism marks a sharp reversal from the Trump administration’s prior public support for the May 2025 U.K.–Mauritius agreement, under which Britain will retain Diego Garcia as a U.S.–U.K. military facility via a 99‑year lease worth at least £120 million ($160 million) annually. British officials say the deal answers U.N. and World Court pressure to decolonize the islands while legally securing the base against international challenges, and Cabinet Minister Pat McFadden publicly argued Trump’s outburst is really about his frustrated Greenland acquisition push rather than Chagos itself. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has tried to calm tensions, labeling Trump’s Greenland takeover talk 'completely wrong' and urging 'calm discussion,' even as the Chagos legislation encounters opposition in Parliament and criticism from displaced islanders who say they were not consulted. For U.S. readers, the episode highlights how Trump is now leveraging a long‑running U.K. decolonization dispute to justify his controversial Greenland ambitions and publicly pressure a core NATO ally over a base Washington itself has said is protected by the very deal he now derides.