LONDON (Reuters) – Britain will give U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s new government the chance to review a deal with Mauritius over the future of a U.S.-British military base in the Indian Ocean, a spokesman for Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Wednesday.
Britain struck a deal in October to hand control of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, while retaining control under a 99-year lease of the military base on Diego Garcia, the largest island of the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean.
The British government had been working to ratify its agreement with Mauritius before Trump is sworn in next week.
But Starmer’s spokesman told reporters: “It is perfectly reasonable for the new U.S. administration to consider the detail.”
Marco Rubio, Trump’s pick as secretary of state, has said the deal poses a threat to U.S. security by ceding the archipelago – with its base used by U.S. long-range bombers and warships – to a country allied with China.
Mike Waltz, Trump’s incoming national security adviser, has also raised concerns about the British government’s negotiations with Mauritius. In 2022, he said they could jeopardise the Diego Garcia military base.
Trump has not publicly commented on the deal.
British foreign minister David Lammy said in November he was confident the deal would go through, adding that the U.S. intelligence agencies, State Department, Pentagon and White House had all welcomed it.
Britain had to hold further negotiations with the new Mauritius Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam, who was elected in November, over the status of the Chagos Islands after he publicly criticised the deal agreed by his predecessor.
(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper and Andrew MacAskill; editing by Barbara Lewis)
