President Donald Trump signaled Tuesday that U.S. relations with the United Kingdom are improving under new Prime Minister Andy Burnham, despite the president’s affection for his predecessor, Keir Starmer.
Starmer resigned this past summer amid increasing public dissatisfaction. Under his leadership, the Labour Party suffered historic losses in both the 2025 and 2026 local elections.
The president opened his bilateral meeting with Burnham on the outskirts of the United Nations General Assembly by saying his counterpart is “going to be a great prime minister.”
“We really appreciate that this relationship matters so much to us, and we’ll build on that relationship,” he stated. “You and I have established a good connection in our early discussions, and we’ve taken that further today.”
Trump suggested that Burnham, previously the mayor of Greater Manchester, is “a natural business person” and, later in the press conference, said that he believes relations are “up” with the U.K. compared to when Starmer was in office.
Still, Trump said that he still doesn’t support the deal between the U.K. and Mauritius to transfer control of the Chagos Islands, a priority for both Starmer and Burnham. The Chagos Islands, a group of seven atolls in the Indian Ocean, are home to Diego Garcia, a joint military base operated by the U.S. and U.K. The Trump administration continues to use the base as a forward staging ground for the war with Iran.
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“I don’t support it. I think it’s terrible. It was a terrible deal,” he told reporters. “They all of a sudden say they have ownership. Somebody has ownership that never showed up before, after decades and centuries. I think it’s ridiculous.”
Watch Trump’s comments in full: