The Dumfries and Galloway News in Scotland welcomed the news with the headline “South West Scotland Hotelier Becomes President Of America For Second Time” when Donald Trump reclaimed the presidency in the previous year’s election.
The locals now appear to have taken a more amusing stand, suggesting that Trump, who owns expensive golf courses in Scotland, was amusing.
His arrival for a four-day visit this week was welcomed by the following headlines from the National, Scotland’s pro-independence newspaper.
What’s the purpose of Trump’s trip to Scotland, and why?
In Scotland, how has Trump been viewed?
His mother is the one who inherited Trump’s ties to Scotland.
While his father, Fred, was the son of German immigrants, Mary Anne MacLeod, the mother of Trump, was a Scottish immigrant to the US and was born in the Tong, Isle of Lewis, a Scottish immigrant.
Trump has made significant progress in making significant progress in this connection and his general adoration for Scotland, as well as making grand promises regarding the benefits of tourism to his golf courses.
Before meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for talks on trade on Monday, he arrived in the small Ayrshire village of Turnberry for a round of golf. The Ailsa, which has hosted the Open Championship twice, and King Robert the Bruce, which are Trump Turnberry’s two championship golf courses.
Turnberry, a tiny town with about 200 inhabitants, might have been a good place to escape bigger problems. Trump can’t stop speculation about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender, from being dissuaded by many in his MAGA fan base.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump allegedly sent Epstein a birthday note with a naked woman and a text that read, “Happy Birthday, and may every day be another wonderful secret.”
According to the report, Bill Clinton and Trump both wrote letters to Epstein in a book that was given to him in 2003.
A Scottish reporter yelled at Trump on Friday, “Are you in Scotland to escape legal issues?” He didn’t respond.
On Friday, some people showed up to protest against his visit to Scotland. A protester in Turnberry was holding a sign that read, “Scotland hated Trump before it was fashionable.” The rest of the protest signs were less polite.
Because he would be “washing his hair,” Stephen Flynn, a member of the Scottish National Party who is notably bald, said he wouldn’t meet Trump.
Scotland doesn’t need to bowe to the White House in the same way that the Westminster bubble does, according to author and journalist Dominic Hinde of Glasgow. In a way that Keir Starmer cannot, we can afford to be rude. He harked back to his Scottish roots and hoped to be greeted with a regal welcome. His standing has only gotten worse and worse. We are not interested in his style of politics at all.
Turnberry temporarily became home to 5, 000 police officers, army trucks, and road checkpoints on Friday as a result of this apprehension and an attempted assassination during his election campaign last year. Since Queen Elizabeth II passed away, this security operation has been the largest and most expensive.
Trump also intends to take a four-day trip that is scheduled to end on July 29 to visit his golf course in Balmedie, close to Aberdeen, and a new course that will open in August.
Why does Trump annoy some Scots?
14 years ago, a dispute between Trump and locals began over a project to construct windmills on his golf course in Aberdeenshire. He demanded that they be stopped, calling them “monstrosities” that would only harm tourism. He continued to oppose both wind and solar power despite failing to stop wind farms.
Trump has requested Starmer to reduce wind and increase oil production in previous discussions. He claims that offshore wind farms “drive the whales crazy” However, wind generates about half of Scotland’s electricity.
Aberdeenshire Golf Course for Trump has also proved controversial. According to conservation organizations, the course has destroyed nearby dunes. Additionally, the course has struggled to generate as much money as it had hoped.
On Friday, the Stop Trump Scotland protest group made clear that it was against him. The Scottish people don’t want Donald Trump’s government to “roll out a welcome mat for him,” it said.
Trump and the UK’s prime minister will talk about what?
The focus of Keir Starmer’s discussions will be on improving a US-UK trade agreement that mandated a 10% tariff on imported British goods.
Additionally, it increased the UK market’s access to US goods and established tariffs of 10% on the first 100, 000 UK vehicles shipped to the US each year, compared to 25% for other nations.
According to car manufacturers and the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS), the UK exported about 106, 000 cars worth $9 billion ($12.1 billion) to the US in 2024, including premium brands like Jaguar, Rolls Royce, and Aston Martin.
Although the UK already hopes to see a 25% reduction in its steel and aluminum tariff, a 50% duty on the same goods would be applied to the rest of the world.
The UK is in a good position, according to Philip Shaw, an economist at Investec in London, given that Trump only imposes 10% of its car exports and that most other nations also have 25% of their exports. A tariff-free trade agreement would be beneficial, but it would be challenging to achieve in everyday circumstances, let alone right now.
At the Group of Seven (G7) summit in June, Trump claimed that the UK is “very well protected” and that the UK receives a better deal than other large economies. You understand the reason. because I enjoy them. Their greatest defense is that.
We were the first nation in the world to sign a trade deal, according to Chancellor Rachel Reeves on Friday, adding that it is in Britain’s national interest to have strong relations with the US administration and as a result of both that long-term special relationship and, more importantly, the work that our Prime Minister Keir Starmer has done to build those relationships with President Trump.
However, Kathleen Brooks, research director at UK investment firm XTB, stated that while the UK was “blessed” by an early trade agreement, it has not yet improved its economic situation.
It’s interesting that Trump has visited Scotland while the EU is still awaiting confirmation of its tariffs on US goods. Trump’s visit to Scotland may serve as a rebuttal to the EU because he also owns golf courses in Ireland. The Epstein scandal might also help to deflect some of the controversy.
Some Trump supporters have expressed disapproval of the UK as a whole, claiming that it lacks freedom of speech and that London has “no-go” zones. Starmer’s trade negotiations are thought to be unrelated, and it’s unlikely that he will raise these issues.
What other possibilities exist?
Trump will also have the opportunity to meet Scottish First Minister John Swinney, who has praised the country’s “strong friendship” with the US, which dates back a long way. Through economic, cultural, and ancestral ties, the partnership endures unwaveringly, including, of course, with the president himself.
He has also pledged to bring up issues involving conflict in countries like Israel and Gaza.
Source: Aljazeera
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