Scotland News
Donald Trump has left for the US after a whirlwind four-day trip to Scotland.
The president mixed business with pleasure in the “private visit”, agreeing a major trade deal and meeting the UK and Scottish heads of government in between rounds of golf.
While promoting his two golf courses in Turnberry and Menie, he agreed a deal with the president of the EU Commission – reducing EU tariffs from 30% to 15% for exports to the US.
He also discussed topics including whisky tariffs and the situation in Gaza in meetings with Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney.
Trump flew in on the presidential plane Air Force One on Friday night declaring “it’s great to be in Scotland”.
He was then swept away to his Turnberry golf resort in South Ayrshire in a motorcade consisting of more than two dozen vehicles, flanked by Police Scotland vehicles and ambulance crews.
The trip was not without the president’s trademark provocative remarks.
He had barely left the plane at Prestwick Airport when he turned to a group of journalists and reiterated his distaste for wind farms, declaring “stop the windmills – you’re ruining your countries”.
His company, Trump International, previously lost a long-running court battle to stop a major wind power development being built in the North Sea off Aberdeen.
Trump argued that the project, which included 11 wind turbines, would spoil the view from his golf course at Menie in Aberdeenshire.
During his trip, President Trump has been keen to remind everyone that he has Scottish roots – his mother was from Stornoway – and frequently declared his love for the country.
Mary Anne MacLeod, was born in 1912 on the island of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides and left during the Great Depression for New York where she married property developer Fred Trump.
After a round of golf at Turnberry on Saturday, Trump met the European Commission President Ursula Von von der Leyen. Before the talks began he said he was “not in a good mood”.
However the pair came to an agreement, setting the US tariffs on goods from Europe at 15% across the board.
The European Union had been facing a 30% levy on its exports to the US from 1 August.
On Monday, the president and prime minister held a meeting at Turnberry, where Starmer presented the president with a European-led peace plan for Gaza before they held a media conference.
The two men then flew to Lossiemouth on Air Force One before taking the presidential helicopter to the Trump International golf resort in Aberdeenshire.
Swinney had dinner with Trump for about two hours on Monday night, when the first minister made the case for exempting Scotch whisky from US tariffs.
This was followed by a shorter discussion on Tuesday morning, focused on what Swinney said was the “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza.
After the meeting, a Scottish government source said the two leaders had a “very good conversation”.
Speaking about their discussion on whisky tariffs, Swinney said: “When the president came to Scotland at the end of last week, I think his view was that the trade deal with the UK was done and dusted.
“I was setting out to him a very unique circumstance around Scotch whisky which can only be produced in Scotland.
“It’s not something that can be relocated somewhere else.
“I was pointing out the significance of that point and appealing to his sentiment about being very positive about Scotland – which he is – to try to get to a better position.”
Asked about his relationship with Mr Trump, Swinney said there had been “very good and courteous” conversations between the pair.
“I think we talked well about the issues that matter to the people of Scotland,” he said.
“He has a deep affinity with Scotland, so he’s got a warmth and an empathy towards Scotland and he was interested in all the issues that I was raising about Scotland.
“So I think we had a very welcome opportunity to engage in dialogue and to build a relationship.”
President Trump opened a new 18-hole course at Menie and had a quick round of golf before leaving for Lossiemouth on the presidential helicopter Marine Force. He then departed for the US on Air Force One.
He said he was returning to Washington DC to “put out fires all over the world”.
“We’ve stopped about five wars. That’s much more important than playing golf,” he said.
During his visit, a major security operation has been under way in South Ayrshire and Aberdeenshire.
Dozens of officers were drafted in from other UK forces support Police Scotland and road closures and diversions were put in place, along with security checkpoints.
Hundreds of protesters gathered in Aberdeen and Edinburgh however Trump supporters also greeted the president.
Donald Trump will return to the UK in September for a state visit, when he will stay with the King at Windsor Castle.
