If there is one thing Donald Trump understands it is freehold versus leasehold. You don’t grow up in the hardened world of New York real estate and not know the difference between landlord and tenant.
That’s what may well lie behind his shock decision to disapprove of the Chagos Islands deal. Under the arrangement, carefully negotiated by Keir Starmer and blessed by Trump, the Indian Ocean islands, which host the strategically important US-UK military base at Diego Garcia, will be handed to Mauritius. Diego Garcia is then leased back at a cost of up to £34bn for the next 100 years.
It seemed like a fair compromise at the time. They got what they wanted; the UK, and its US partner, got what they wanted. Smiles and handshakes all round.
As for the fact that the US did not own Diego Garcia outright, that didn’t really matter.
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