North America editor in Scotland
Getty ImagesA list of Donald Trump’s favourite things would be very unlikely to include raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens (as Julie Andrews famously sang in The Sound of Music).
Instead, the president’s list would surely have on it playing golf, a way to brazenly promote his commercial interests and, thirdly, trade deals that generate billions of dollars for the United States.
No wonder he looks so pleased with himself – his working holiday in Scotland has delivered on all three of these passions.
On what was billed as a “private visit” he got a lot of work done.
He is taking home with him a trade deal with the EU which is not only the largest in history, it is also extremely favourable to the US.
The EU will spend hundreds of billions of dollars buying American energy and military equipment as well as investing billions more in the US economy.
In return European goods will be subject to a 15% tariff when they are exported to the US rather than the 30% Trump had threatened.
The deal is an important achievement for Trump to be able to boast about, even if he has failed to conclude the “90 deals in 90 days” he had promised.
He also seemed to relish hosting Sir Keir and Lady Starmer at his Turnberry golf resort on Monday.
It was a peculiar spectacle, the British prime minister being welcomed as guest in his own country.
But the PM was prepared to overlook the protocol when he was being treated to an unusual and valuable amount of face time with the US president.
Trump is, after all, a man whose foreign policy is abnormally influenced by his personal relations with other world leaders.
Their talks were dominated by the crisis in Gaza. Starmer appeared to make some headway as he pressed Trump to use his influence to get more food into the Palestinian territory.
Getty ImagesTrump said afterwards that the US would work with the UK and other European partners to set up food centres, adding that he will tell Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to ensure that food gets to people who need it. “I want to make sure they get the food, every ounce of food.”
He also seemed to give the green light to Starmer to officially recognise the state of Palestine even though that is not something the US will do. “I’m not going to take a position, I don’t mind him taking a position,” he said.
Trump also made a significant change to his position on the conflict in Ukraine.
He revealed that he is now giving Russian President Vladimir Putin only 10-12 days to agree to a ceasefire, not the 50 days he had previously given him.
“There’s is no reason in waiting… I want to be generous but we just don’t see any progress being made.”
All of these major announcements were made during an exceptionally long, wide-ranging and free-wheeling press conference, during which the US president appeared extremely relaxed.
He was prepared to talk at length about anything from wind power to immigration, including his views on King Charles and the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.
There was one issue he could not escape, much as he perhaps wanted to.
He was inevitably asked about Jeffrey Epstein, as the long running controversy about why he is refusing to release all the files held by the US government on the deceased sex offender followed him across the Atlantic.
A van displaying an old photograph of Trump at a party with Epstein was driving around Aberdeenshire to make sure the president could not escape the furore.
He told us for the first time why he fell out with the disgraced financier many years ago, saying that Epstein had poached staff from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and he refused to talk to him after that.
And he denied ever having sent a lewd drawing to Epstein (as reported by the Wall St Journal), claiming that he only ever draws very basic pictures of buildings.
The intrusion of the Epstein scandal into Trump’s Scottish trip was a reminder of what inevitably awaits him on his return to Washington but it did not seem to dent his buoyant mood.
A few anti-Trump protests were staged. But they were largely kept away from the president himself and were remarkably muted compared with previous visits.
The most determined demonstrators were Trump fans who turned out to greet him as he landed in Prestwick and at both golf resorts, holding large signs welcoming him to Scotland.
The president also took every opportunity to use this trip to proudly promote his two Scottish golf resorts.
He hosted the press conferences with Starmer and Ursula von der Leyen, head of the EU’s executive, in the newly renovated ballroom at Turnberry, boasting of the opulent new ceiling and brand new windows at the same time as discussing famine in Gaza.
Getty ImagesArriving in Aberdeenshire with Starmer on board his Marine One helicopter, he took a couple of laps to show off the new golf course before landing.
After talks with John Swinney on Tuesday morning, he had the Scottish first minister attend the official opening of the Trump International Golf Links in the village of Balmedie, along with several VIPs and a phalanx of TV cameras.
It is exceptionally unusual for a US president to so nakedly use his office to promote his own commercial interests but it is something Donald Trump clearly revels in doing.
Almost as much as he enjoys playing golf. Which he managed to do on almost every day of this trip.
