Donald Trump said on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, at a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Andy Burnham on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York that relations with the United Kingdom are better than under Burnham’s predecessor Keir Starmer, and attacked the deal that transfers sovereignty over the Chagos archipelago in the Indian Ocean to Mauritius while keeping Diego Garcia, home to a joint military base, under lease.

“I don’t support it. I think it’s terrible. It was a terrible deal,” Trump said, according to The Guardian, which reports that Burnham nodded when the US president said the British prime minister would “look at it” again. The Jerusalem Post reports Trump praised Burnham as a “natural businessman” and said the two covered “everything from Rolls-Royce to energy to immigration”. Burnham had reaffirmed on Monday, September 21, 2026, to Mauritius’s prime minister, Navin Ramgoolam, his commitment to proceeding with the transfer, according to Middle East Eye. The deal was agreed by Starmer, and the legislation to implement it has been stalled since April 2026 over opposition from the White House.