Scotland’s first minister has urged Donald Trump to exempt scotch whisky from 10% tariffs as the leaders met before a lavish opening ceremony for a second golf course at the US president’s Aberdeenshire resort.
John Swinney said he believed there was “a window of opportunity” to look at the specific tariff, which is believed to be costing the scotch whisky industry £4m a week.
Despite backing Trump’s rival Kamala Harris in last year’s US elections, Swinney enjoyed significant access to the president during his five-day visit to Scotland.
The pair are understood to have sat together at a dinner hosted by the president at the Trump International Resort on the Menie Estate on Monday evening, where they spoke together for about an hour.
A more formal meeting on Tuesday morning, also attended by Trump’s sons Eric and Donald Jr, was described as “very convivial”.
And in a speech before he cut the red ribbon to open the new 36-hole course, which he dedicated to his late mother who grew up near Stornoway on Lewis, Trump thanked Swinney “for everything”. He asked Swinney to stand for applause in front of other guests and described him as a “very special guy”.
He also said the UK prime minister, Kier Starmer, was “very gracious”.
Speaking to reporters after the ceremony, Swinney said: “I think there’s a willingness for President Trump to look at the issues that I’ve set out to him. I don’t think that was the position a few days ago, because I think President Trump was of the view that the trade deal was done and dusted and that was an end of the matter.”
The UK and US signed a trade deal in June but it did not protect every sector from tariffs.
The president had been asked about whisky tariffs by journalists at his Turnberry resort in Ayrshire on Monday, when he appeared not to realise there was an issue.
“We’ll talk about that, I didn’t know whisky was a problem,” Trump said. “I’m not a big whisky drinker but maybe I should be.”
Swinney also used Tuesday’s formal meeting to discuss the starvation crisis in Gaza. He said later: “I implored President Trump to use his immense influence on the Israeli government to end the unbearable, unjust, and inhumane situation unfolding in Gaza, and to bring an end to the humanitarian crisis we are witnessing.”
Trump played a round on the new course before returning to RAF Lossiemouth to fly back to Washington DC, where he said he was needed to “put out fires all over the world”.
