The White House is reportedly considering a plan that would see the U.S. make a deal to purchase the Chagos Islands after President Donald Trump’s ambitions of seeing the U.S. take control of Greenland ended in failure.
The president has repeatedly threatened to seize or annex several nations and territories, including Canada and Venezuela, which he has potentially claimed as 51st states. He has also delivered similar threats to Panama and Cuba, with U.S. naval vessels building up forces throughout the Caribbean. His administration has also launched a campaign of military strikes against small boats operating across the Caribbean Sea it alleges are trafficking drugs.
His latest alleged plan follows delays in U.K. legislation that would complete the country’s cessation of the territory to the east African nation Mauritius after withdrawal of U.S. support in January. Trump called the treaty organizing the cessation of territory “an act of GREAT STUPIDITY” at the time.
The Telegraph reports that a plan to buy the territory, placing it directly under U.S. control, is among the options being presented to Trump as he makes a decision on further steps for the Chagos Islands, which consist of dozens of islands in the Indian Ocean.
The president’s foreign policy has bent sharply towards territorial acquisitions since he returned to the White House, and the U.S. is now in discussions with Cuba’s government over multiple issues including the decades-long U.S. trade embargo of the island. U.S. forces previously invaded Venezuela and detained President Nicolas Maduro at the beginning of the year, and the president has openly threatened to expand that campaign to other countries that oppose the U.S.
open image in galleryThe war with Iran was also supposed to follow a similar blueprint, but the conflict has now stretched on for months past Trump’s initial predictions. A shaky ceasefire continues to hold, but the U.S has so far been unable to ink a deal with Iran to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the war.
The president initiated a months-long effort to spur interest in acquiring the territory of Greenland from Denmark last year, even dispatching Vice President JD Vance to the Arctic land to drum up support. Trump repeatedly claimed that the U.S.’s military interests necessitated its acquisition, but those interests have since faded into the background.
open image in galleryTrump and Starmer have clashed over what the U.S. president views as Europe and Nato’s insufficient support for his war with Iran. His goal of purchasing or assuming control of Greenland was another point of conflict between the president and European leaders including Starmer, and the mountain of resistance he encountered from other Nato countries eventually led the president to back down from those aims. Like the Chagos Islands, Greenland is viewed as a strategic military asset due to the location of a U.S. base.
The U.K. has controlled the Chagos Islands since 1814. A joint U.S.-U.K. military base, Diego Garcia, is present on the islands and under Starmer’s plan would remain under joint control of the two nations.
open image in galleryMultiple sources familiar with the matter told the news outlet that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent directly raised the idea with the president, though it was reportedly not Trump’s “leading” option at this time.
The White House did not comment on the Telegraph’s reporting when contacted by the Independent. However, a U.S. official told The Independent that the Trump administration maintains that it would be a mistake for the U.K. to “give away the British Indian Ocean Territory”, adding: “Diego Garcia’s strategic location in the Indian Ocean makes it a vital and indispensable military installation of significant importance to the national security of the United States.”
“We remain in regular discussions with our British allies as we work together to preserve the viability of Diego Garcia as a regional security platform,” they added.
The Diego Garcia base sits in a highly strategic spot, allowing missions to take place in southeast Asia where the U.S. is heavily involved in countering Chinese military footprints, while also allowing for direct strikes to be launched on Iran and the Middle East.