The US will not be changing its position on the Falkland Islands despite Donald Trump’s suggestion otherwise, GB News has been told.
Nile Gardiner, a former aide to Margaret Thatcher, told Britain’s News Channel last night the President would not be shifting its position and “throwing Britain under the bus” – despite his recent sale of Black Hawk helicopters to Argentina.
“Not one official that I have spoken to in the Trump administration says the United States is going to shift its position on the Falklands,” Mr Gardiner said.
“If the US did so, it would really be the end of the US-UK special relationship.”
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Last week, Mr Trump told GB News he did not know if Britain had the capacity to come to the islands’ defence as it did in 1982.
He had just days earlier said the American position on the Falkland Islands is “one of many” under review.
Now, Mr Gardiner has explicitly said Mr Trump “will not be changing position on the Falklands, and he’ll be back eventually backing us up”.
“That’s what I’ve heard from officials that I’ve spoken to, and I regularly speak with US administration officials,” he added.
Instead, he suggested the President was using the islands as a means with which to make Britain spend more on defence.
“Burnham and Starmer have knifed the United States in the back over Iran. President Trump is very unhappy about that,” he said.
Speaking to GB News, Mr Trump himself said “your country was not there to help me” in Iran.
“It was pretty sad, the whole thing,” he added.
Mr Gardiner, of the influential Heritage Foundation, added: “The President’s sending a clear message to the UK that the UK has to spend more on its defence, that the UK has to treat the special relationship more seriously.
“It’s a two way street here – but the President is not going to shift his position on the Falklands.”
Previous American administrations have formally recognised Britain’s de facto administration of the islands – though have not taken a formal position on their sovereignty.
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Under Barack Obama, the States urged Britain and Argentina to pursue a peaceful resolution through bilateral dialogue over the Falklands.
Though during the 2012 Summit of the Americas, Mr Obama mistakenly referred to the archipelago as the “Maldives”, appearing to try to use the word “Malvinas” – what Argentina calls the islands.
Then-Prime Minister Lord Cameron said the then-President reassured him the US was content with the status quo, and that only the Falkland Islanders would decide their future.
“Even the Obama administration rejected a shift away from the US position of neutrality over the Falklands,” Mr Gardiner said.
“Even the Obama administration understood what a dangerous move that would be. The Trump administration’s far more pro-British.
“President Trump is the most pro-British US President since Ronald Reagan. He is not going to do something that will fundamentally undermine the United Kingdom.”
Though in his GB News interview, Mr Trump admitted Britain “is not the same country it was under Margaret Thatcher”.
In 1982, he said, “you went there and you just took it back very quickly. There were no games”.
“I don’t know if you are prepared to do that [today],” he added. “I don’t know if you could.”
Downing Street insists the UK’s position on the Falkland Islands is “unwavering” after Argentine President Javier Milei said they were “historically and legally” Argentinian.
Andy Burnham “fully supports the wishes of the islanders to remain a British overseas territory”, a No10 spokesman said.
GB News has approached the US State Department following Mr Gardiner’s claims.
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