Donald Trump has suggested he is reconsidering US support for Britain’s sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, in a move likely to strain the “special relationship” between Washington and London.
“I always review every position – that’s just one of many,” the US president told reporters in the White House, in response to a question about whether he was reviewing the US’s position over the South Atlantic islands, an archipelago whose status has long been disputed by Argentina, which claims sovereignty.
Officially, the US takes a neutral position on who has rightful sovereignty over the islands, which Britain first claimed in the late 17th century and has held almost continually since 1833. In practice, it recognizes British administration over the territory, which was the subject of an Argentinian invasion and subsequent military conflict with Britain in 1982.
