Donald Trump has issued a direct challenge to Sir Keir Starmer, urging him to address the issues he perceives in the UK, specifically pointing to significant troubles in London.
During a press conference at the White House on Tuesday evening, coinciding with the first anniversary of his second term inauguration, Trump covered a wide array of subjects. He celebrated his administration’s successes before opening the floor to questions from the media.
When questioned about his rapport with Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron, Trump remarked, “They need to resolve issues in their countries—consider London, it faces significant challenges, and Paris is dealing with its own set of problems.”
He highlighted that both the UK and France are grappling with immigration and energy issues. Trump recommended that the UK abandon wind energy in favor of exploiting gas and oil resources from the North Sea.
Trump also issued a cryptic warning about Greenland, an area of interest for both the UK and France, hinting at potential actions to claim it from Denmark by saying, “You’ll find out.”
Although the Republican president acknowledged that he hasn’t spoken with the British Prime Minister or Macron since posting about them on Truth Social earlier that day, he assured that he maintains a good relationship with them. However, he noted, “They tend to get a bit aggressive in my absence.”
‘You know. I like both of them; they’re both liberal.’
Trump’s post about Starmer on Tuesday morning saw the American leader describe the UK’s decision to ‘give away the island of Diego Garcia’ as ‘an act of GREAT STUPIDITY’.
Donald Trump (pictured on Tuesday) has told Sir Keir Starmer to ‘straighten out’ the UK, claiming London has ‘a lot of problems’
Asked about his relationship with Keir Starmer (pictured) and French president Emmanuel Macron, he said: ‘They’ve got to straighten out their countries’
This is despite having previously signed off on a £3.4billion deal to lease the island back to Mauritius.
Asked whether he thought the deal should now not go ahead, the US president told a White House press conference: ‘I think that they, you know, when they originally were going to do it, they were talking about doing some concept of ownership but now they’re looking to essentially just do a lease and sell it.
‘And I’m against that. It’s a reasonably – nothing like Greenland – but it’s a reasonably important part of area of the globe. Not anywhere near Greenland, but I think they should keep it.
‘I don’t know why they’re doing (it), do they need money?’
He added that he has ‘lot of meetings scheduled on Greenland, and I think things are going to work out pretty well’, referencing his imminent appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, for which he will be leaving on Tuesday evening from Washington.
Ahead of Trump’s White House briefing, Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said in a separate news conference that the Arctic island’s population.
He added that authorities need to prepare for a possible military invasion amid pressure from Trump, saying: ‘It’s not likely there will be a military conflict, but it can’t be ruled out.’
France’s President Emmanuel Macron gestures as he delivers a speech during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 20, 2026
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a press briefing at the White House, on the one-year mark into his second term in office, in Washington, D.C., U.S., January 20
Trump also spoke of the US’ relationship with NATO, claiming: ‘I think something’s gonna happen that’s gonna be very good for everybody.
‘Nobody’s done more for NATO than I have, as I said before, in every way. Getting them to go up to 5 per cent of GDP… at 2 per cent they weren’t paying, at 5% they are paying. They’re buying a lot of stuff from us, and they’re giving it to Ukraine.
‘I think we will work something out where NATO’s gonna be very happy, and we’re gonna be very happy. But we need it for security purposes, we need it for national security and even world security.’
It followed Keir Starmer pressing ahead with his controversial £30billion giveaway of the Chagos Islands today, despite Trump branding it an ‘act of great stupidity’.
The Prime Minister ordered Labour MPs to push through legislation on the deal tonight, saying that the United States continued to support a plan which President Trump said demonstrated ‘total weakness’.
Trump, who nodded through the deal last year, stunned ministers by savaging Labour’s decision to hand the islands to China ally Mauritius.
In a furious post on his Truth Social platform, he wrote: ‘Shockingly, our ‘brilliant’ NATO Ally, the United Kingdom, is currently planning to give away the Island of Diego Garcia, the site of a vital US Military Base, to Mauritius, and to do so FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER.
It followed Keir Starmer pressing ahead with his controversial £30billion giveaway of the Chagos Islands today, despite Trump branding it an ‘act of great stupidity’. An aerial view of Diego Garcia is pictured
Reform UK sources suggested that Nigel Farage’s lobbying may also have contributed to the President’s change of mind (file image)
‘There is no doubt that China and Russia have noticed this act of total weakness.’
He highlighted the decision as a reason for his pursuit of Greenland, writing: ‘The UK giving away extremely important land is an act of GREAT STUPIDITY, and is another in a very long line of National Security reasons why Greenland has to be acquired.’
He also reiterated his opposition to the deal. Trump told reporters: ‘When they [the UK] were originally going to do it they were talking about doing some concept of ownership. But now they’re looking to essentially do a lease and sell it.
‘I’m against that. It’s nothing like Greenland but it’s a reasonably important area of the globe.
‘I think they should keep it. I don’t know why they don’t – do they need money?’
Downing Street yesterday played down the row, pointing to comments by work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden, who said Mr Trump was venting ‘frustration’ at opposition to his bid to seize Greenland.
Mr McFadden, a close ally of the PM, said: ‘I think 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.
Pat McFadden, a close ally of the PM, said he didn’t believe the row was about Chagos; rather, it was about Greenland, he said
‘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.’
Under the terms of the agreement, the UK will lease back Diego Garcia for 99 years at a cost that could top £30billion. But critics of the deal lined up to urge the PM to think again.
Kemi Badenoch said President Trump was ‘right on the issue’. The Tory leader told the BBC: ‘There is no reason whatsoever that we should be surrendering British territory with a strategic military base on it, and paying £35billion in reparations to say sorry to Mauritius. It’s crazy.
‘The only people who benefit are Russia and China. It is a stupid idea, and Keir Starmer on this is completely wrong.’
Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel urged ministers to heed Mr Trump’s advice and abandon legislation to cement the deal. She said the US President had offered Labour a ‘last chance’ to avoid an ‘act of self-harm’.
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said hostile states like Russia, China and Iran were ‘laughing at us’.
The US administration approved the deal last year, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying it ‘secures the long-term, stable and effective operation of the joint US-UK military facility at Diego Garcia, which is critical to regional and global security’.
But critics believe the risks were never properly explained to Mr Trump.
The Mail revealed this month that exiled Chagos Islanders had made a last-ditch plea to Mr Trump to intervene – and even offered to name an island after him if he blocked the plan.
In a letter to the US President, the islanders’ First Minister Misley Mandarin warned that the ‘very bad deal’ would ‘put at risk’ the joint military base.
He warned that the deal, brokered by Sir Keir’s national security adviser Jonathan Powell, could give China ‘leverage’ over the base, which is seen as a military asset. Mauritius, he said, ‘would hold sovereignty over every inch of the US base’.
Reform UK sources suggested that Nigel Farage’s lobbying may also have contributed to the President’s change of mind.
Mr Farage said: ‘The Americans have woken up to the fact that they were lied to. They were told that the UK had no choice but to surrender the Chagos Islands. This was simply not true, and now they are angry with us.’
Britain’s then foreign secretary David Lammy last year said Mr Trump had a veto on the deal, adding: ‘If President Trump doesn’t like the deal, the deal will not go forward. And the reason for that is because we have a shared military and intelligence interest with the United States.’
Mr Farage said the US President had now ‘vetoed the surrender’ of the islands.
But Downing Street said the deal would go ahead and ordered Labour MPs to vote down amendments to the legislation put in place by the Lords.
Government sources said they expect the legislation to go through in a matter of weeks.
