The Trump administration should maintain its de facto recognition of the United Kingdom’s sovereignty over the Falkland Islands. Doing otherwise would cause serious and enduring populist offense with no obvious gain to otherwise legitimate American concerns over the special relationship.
The point bears noting amid accurate Reuters reporting that the Pentagon has provided options to President Donald Trump with which to penalize European allies over their complication of U.S. military action against Iran. Notwithstanding Trump’s idiotic insults to the U.K. and other allies such as Denmark over the sacrifice of their troops in Afghanistan (and Denmark suffered a dual insult via Trump’s threats to Greenland), the U.K. and other European allies have recently let down the U.S.
They have done so by dithering or qualifying U.S. requests to use U.S. military bases on their soil. In some cases, allies have actively obstructed U.S. military activity. They have also manifestly failed to support appropriate defensive action to challenge Iranian attacks on their economic and security interests. And unlike Germany, which is finally taking defense spending seriously, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government continues to significantly underinvest in defense.
Trump wants to punish these perceived offenses.
In turn, one option listed in the Reuters report is the removal of U.S. recognition for British authority over the Falkland Islands. Located in the far southern Atlantic Ocean, the Islands are 325 miles east of Argentina and north of Antarctica. They have been under British control since 1833, excluding a three-month occupation by Argentine forces following its invasion of the Islands in 1982. The U.K. then forcibly liberated the Islands, benefiting from a range of U.S. intelligence support, some of which remains classified. Argentina continues to claim the Islands, which it refers to as the “Malvinas,” as its sovereign territory.
It would be a mistake to withdraw U.S. recognition of British authority.
The U.K. remains a very close and important ally, especially in fields of economic, intelligence, and military cooperation. The war in Iran has undermined but not eviscerated those realities. A sense of proportion is thus needed here.
The U.K. is a better American ally than Israel, for example. It would be an act of supreme foolishness to reward Argentina with an ill-earned gift of diplomatic support for its fallacious claims. The Islands have been under British control for the vast sum of modern history, after all. And in a 2013 referendum, 99.8% of residents voted to remain a British territory.
In practice, a change in diplomatic language reflecting the status of the Islands wouldn’t have any functional effect on British control over the Islands. The wholesale decline of the Argentine military and post-1982 reinforcement of the British military garrison on the Islands means any repeat Argentine invasion is presently unfeasible.
Still, any shift in the Trump administration’s recognition would outrage British public opinion and reinforce the disinterest of future British governments in supporting the U.S. on unpopular matters. It would also make allies already questioning Trump’s reliability further question whether they could rely upon the U.S., even on the most instrumental concerns of national sovereignty. This would gut the trust that ultimately underpins U.S. global leadership. In practical terms, it would greatly reduce the potential for limited but significant allied military support for the U.S. in a future war with China, for example.
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Instead, the U.S. national security bureaucracy should keep telling Starmer’s government why the U.K.’s conduct during the Iran war has been incompatible with the special relationship and why the U.K. must urgently increase defense spending.
But just as it would be insane for a U.K. government to derecognize U.S. authority over Guam, so also would it be idiotic for the U.S. to derecognize U.K. authority over the Falkland Islands.