Trump is trying to pressure UK by going hostile on Chagos

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Beth Rigby

@BethRigby

Trump detonating series of bombshells on Truth Social overnight: leaking private messages from President Macron, posting image of Canada and Greenland as part of the US and going all out on PM Starmer and UK by calling the Chagos deal an ‘act of great stupidity’, and opening him up to attacks from opposition MPs long-opposed to the deal. Been speaking around government this morning to get a sense of what the hell is going on after the PM yesterday sought to reiterate the UK’s position on Greenland while also trying to de-escalate, stressing the strong relationship, dodging the matter of retaliatory tariffs (although not ruling it out) and avoiding any incendiary language adopted by other leaders clearly fed up with Trump. What’s clear is a sense that Trump is trying to pressure UK by going hostile on Chagos - he clearly links the Chagos deal to Greenland in the post. But what is also clear, is that UK govt is not going to change positon on Greenland, nor it is going to wobble on Chagos and will press on with the agreement with the Mauritian government. But the lashing out against the UK and Starmer seems to be part of a bigger assault on allies - as Trump reveals private messages with Macron and shares a map of Canada as US territory, which will no doubt explode in Canada when the country wakes up in a few hours. This is what work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden just said: “What we saw last night... was a series of posts criticising a number of world leaders. That may tell us that the President is frustrated right now. I don't really believe this is about Chagos. I think it's about Greenland and the best way to resolve that is through dialogue with the Danish government and that's what we've said all along.” Trump is clearly frustrated that European allies are standing firm on Greenland and facing down this threats, regardless of the consequences on the tariffs. Meanwhile, his Board of Peace plan has also fallen flat as the President demands $1bn for membership of a club that seems intended to undermine the United Nations. France intends to reject Trump’s invitation over concerns that it would call into question “the principles and structure of the United Nations,” according to a reports from the AFP news agency, while the UK government has “severe reservations” about the project’s legal framework, according to the The Times. Yesterday, the former Danish PM and Danish Foreign minister Lars Rasmussen told me how surprised he’d been by Trump’s public threats on social media over the weekend because he thought Denmark had come to an agreement with Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Rubio that the profound disagreement on Greenland would be negotiated away from social media. “We agreed that we should move this dialogue from social media and Truth Social...I thought, we have managed not to solve the problem, but to find a pathway forward. It was disrupted, by the statement from the president. And that's a reality of life.” It’s a reality all leaders dealing with, as Trump’s increasingly erratic behaviour with allies makes the US almost impossible to deal with, though the UK positon is that it must continue to try. Last night I was told it was “highly unlikely” the PM would attend Davos given that there is no sign of any resolution or big set piece of multi-lateral meeting in resolution of the biggest matters for the UK and EU - Greenland and Ukraine. But am told there will be engagement with the US administration this morning and conversation in Davos between UK and US players. But Trump turning on Starmer after all the PM’s efforts to build a good relationship, is undoubtedly a blow and raise questions about how else Starmer might have dealt with Trump. For the UK’s part, it managed to negotiate better trade terms during that purple patch. But now, this relationship is clearly under huge strain. I imagine Starmer will ignore it and carry on, his problem is that his opponents will not