Relationship dossier
Mauritius
United States
Relationship assessment
Practical economic cooperation alongside a persistent dispute over Chagos and Diego Garcia
Mauritius toward United States
+15Mauritius participates in bilateral investment and trade arrangements with the United States. Its pursuit of sovereignty over the Chagos Islands also challenges the arrangement that enables the U.S. military presence at Diego Garcia.
United States toward Mauritius
+5The United States has provided Mauritius access to trade-preference programs and maintains a bilateral investment treaty with it. U.S. policy has also supported the United Kingdom’s position on the Chagos Islands, a source of friction with Mauritius.
Overall relationship
+10The relationship combines practical economic and legal arrangements with a significant strategic dispute over Chagos and Diego Garcia. The cooperative framework is durable, but the sovereignty issue limits the extent of alignment.
How to read these scores
Scores are rough judgments, not objective measurements or current verification. Directional scores describe government policy and conduct, not public opinion. The overall score is an independent estimate, never an average.
- −100
- Extreme sustained hostility
- −50
- Substantially adversarial
- 0
- Mixed or neutral, supported by knowledge
- +50
- Substantially cooperative
- +100
- Exceptionally close sustained partnership
“Not assessed” means there is no recorded score. Pair existence makes no claim about diplomatic recognition or established relations.
Relationship context
Overview
Mauritius and the United States maintain practical economic and legal cooperation, including a bilateral investment treaty and Mauritius’s participation in U.S. trade-preference programs. Relations are complicated by the Chagos Islands dispute: Mauritius contests the sovereignty arrangement affecting the U.S. military presence at Diego Garcia, while U.S. policy has been closely tied to the United Kingdom’s position. The scope and implementation of broader bilateral cooperation are unclear.
Areas of tension
- Mauritius’s claim to sovereignty over the Chagos Islands conflicts with the arrangement underpinning the U.S. military presence at Diego Garcia.
Key developments
The United States and Mauritius concluded a bilateral investment treaty, establishing a framework for investment relations.
Mauritius became eligible for U.S. trade preferences under the African Growth and Opportunity Act.
Major uncertainties
- The scope and implementation of bilateral economic and legal cooperation are unclear.
- The extent of U.S.–Mauritius cooperation on maritime security and regional issues is uncertain.