White House considers buying Chagos Islands to secure Diego Garcia base

Washington is weighing a direct purchase of the Chagos Islands from Mauritius, a move that would give the United States a separate path to secure Diego Garcia and could sidestep Britain’s plan to hand over sovereignty. The idea is being discussed as the White House looks for a way to preserve the military value of the island chain without accepting a transfer that London and Port Louis have already negotiated.

Diego Garcia, the largest island in the Chagos Archipelago, hosts a major U.S.-U.K. military base at a crossroads in the Indian Ocean. A U.S. official said Donald Trump has been consistent in opposing Britain giving away the territory and argued that the base’s location makes it indispensable for American national security. The same official said Washington remains in regular talks with Britain to keep Diego Garcia’s strategic role intact. Trump has also described the Chagos deal as an “act of total weakness.”

The proposal lands after a year of intense diplomatic friction. On May 22, 2025, the United Kingdom and Mauritius signed an agreement under which Britain would cede sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago while retaining Diego Garcia under a 99-year lease. Reuters reported in April 2026 that Britain put the handover on hold after U.S. opposition, with London waiting for Washington’s backing before moving ahead. The White House’s current thinking would go further still, creating a direct U.S.-Mauritius arrangement rather than simply endorsing the U.K.-Mauritius settlement.

The stakes extend well beyond one base. Control of Diego Garcia shapes U.S. force posture across the Middle East and Asia, where the island has long served as a key logistical and operational hub. A cash purchase would also set a striking precedent: wealthy powers trying to resolve a colonial-era sovereignty dispute through a commercial transaction. That is especially sensitive because the Chagos Archipelago was separated from Mauritius in 1965, before Mauritian independence in 1968, and the forced displacement of Chagossians has remained unresolved.

International and parliamentary scrutiny has only sharpened the issue. The United Nations has framed the 2025 agreement as part of the long decolonization process and acknowledged the unlawful separation of the islands, while the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination said in December 2025 that the deal raised concerns for Chagossian rights. The House of Commons Library and the House of Lords International Agreements Committee have also noted the security, environmental, resettlement and financial provisions tied to the arrangement, underscoring how a dispute over a remote archipelago has become a test of military strategy, sovereignty and post-colonial repair.