Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reportedly presented Trump with option to buy islands housing Diego Garcia base
The White House is reportedly considering a plan that would see the U.S. make a deal to purchase the Chagos Islands after Donald Trump’s ambitions of seeing the U.S. take control of Greenland ended in failure.
The president has repeatedly threatened to seize or annex several nations and territories, including Canada and Venezuela, which he has potentially claimed as 51st states. He has also delivered similar threats to Panama and Cuba, with U.S. naval vessels building up forces throughout the Caribbean and launching a campaign of military strikes against small boats that the president claims are trafficking drugs.
His latest alleged plan follows delays in U.K. legislation that would complete the country’s cessation of the territory to the east African nation Mauritius after withdrawal of U.S. support in January. Trump called the treaty organizing the cessation of territory “an act of GREAT STUPIDITY” at the time.
Really I feel this is mostly about the UK avoiding all the issues its has with what it did to the Chagossians, and the expenses of dealing with islands that will be massively impacted by climate change.
To analogize, the UK stole someone else’s car and has had it for a while. But now the original car owner is trying to get it back, the engine is failing, and the practical choice is to offload it to someone else for a quick buck before shit hits the fan