Donald Trump has performed a u-turn and withdrawn his support for Britain’s decision to cede the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
The US president had previously appeared to be on side with the Labour government, which signed a deal last May to hand over the territory.
The islands are home to Diego Garcia, a small archipelago in the Indian Ocean which houses a strategically important British and American military base.
Under the deal the base will be rented back at a cost of more than £99bn over the next 99 years. The deal faced considerable opposition in the UK, raising security concerns that the islands would now come under the influence of China.
On Tuesday, Mr Trump, who is travelling to Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum, cited the deal as among the reas
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