By Elizabeth Piper
WASHINGTON (REUTERS) -President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he was inclined to support a deal between Great Britain and Mauritius about the future of an American military base on the Chagos Islands, in a boost for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Trump indicated his support for the deal when he met Starmer in the White House for their first personal conversations, because the Republican leader has built up American policy in a number of areas, from Ukraine to global trade.
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Great Britain struck the agreement in October to hand over the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, while retaining the control under a 99-year lease of the military base on Diego Garcia, the largest island of the archipelago in the Indian Ocean.
The deal, which still has to be completed with a formal treaty, had the support of former US President Joe Biden, but has been entangled as Trump's re -election since the re -election of Trump. Great -Britain had said that it would give the Trump government the chance to revise the deal before he completed it.
Sitting next to starmer in the Oval Office, Trump said reporters that the two leaders would discuss the deal on Thursday during their meeting, but that he would probably accept it.
“We are going to have some discussions about this soon, and I feel it will work very well,” Trump said in response to a question about the deal, and noted that it contained a “very long, powerful” lease about Diego Garcia.
“I think we are inclined to join your country,” he told Starmer. “It's a bit early, we have to get the details, but it doesn't sound bad.”
Trump's comments will be welcomed by Starmer, who has confronted political pressure at home about the costs of the deal and the loss of British sovereignty across the islands.
The deal had come further uncertainty in recent weeks, with the new prime minister of Mauritius questioning the details of the agreement and the US State Secretary Marco Rubio expressed concern about the influence of China in the region.
When Mauritius became independent of Great Britain in the 1960s, London retained control over the Chagos Islands and displaced people up to 2,000 people with violence to make way for the base of Diego Garcia.
(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Writing by Sachin Ravikumar; adaptation by Leslie Adler)
