US President Donald Trump spent five days in Scotland, playing golf, sealing a major trade deal with the EU and weighing in on global conflicts from Gaza to Ukraine.
Here are five talking points from his visit:
– Golf diplomacy –
Trump’s luxury golf courses in Scotland became impromptu hubs for international diplomacy, in a blatant blurring of politics and his family’s personal interests.
In front of the world’s media, Trump and his son Eric showcased their new golf course opened Tuesday in Balmedie, northeastern Scotland.
Eric Trump hailed the new course as his father’s “Mona Lisa” masterpiece.
The two courses at Balmedie would be “the greatest 36 holes anywhere on earth”, he said, before they teed off with a stunning view as a backdrop.
The US leader also spent time showing off the restored ballroom in his Turnberry resort on the southwestern Scottish coast, where he sealed a deal setting 15-percent tariffs on EU exports to the States.
– Gaza and Ukraine –
Perhaps it was the fresh Scottish air, but Trump signalled sudden shifts in his positions on the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine during a long, rambling press conference on Monday with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Having sought since the start of his second term to end the international isolation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the US leader declared he was now “not so interested in talking (to him) anymore”.
He gave the Russian leader 10 to 12 days to end the war in Ukraine, slashing a 50-day deadline set on July 14.
And he contradicted his staunch ally Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying there was “real starvation” in Gaza, where Israel is battling Hamas militants.
Trump announced the United States was setting up food centres in the Palestinian territory, adding: “We have to get the kids fed.”
– Starmer charmer –
Trump has been known to publicly castigate some world leaders, notably Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an Oval Office dressing down in February.
But he was oozing charm after waiting on the steps of his ornate Turnberry resort like the lord of the manor to greet Keir Starmer on Monday.
“We want to make the prime minister happy,” Trump proclaimed.
He also lavished praise on Starmer’s wife, Victoria, who accompanied the UK premier, calling her the “First Lady”.
“She’s a respected person all over the United States,” Trump said, musing that he had better not say more or he would get himself “into trouble”.
Starmer was later treated to a flight on Air Force One and the presidential helicopter Marine One — a rare privilege for foreign leaders.
– ‘Windmills’ –
Trump hates “windmills”, fuming at the power-generating turbines erected off the coast of his two Scottish golf resorts, which he says spoil the view.
He has fought for years against a new wind farm off the coast of Aberdeen.
“It destroys the beauty of your fields, your plains and your waterways,” Trump said, denouncing the “ugly monsters all over the place” while advocating for oil and gas power.
But Starmer, whose government has committed to reach net zero in carbon gas emissions by 2050, calmly replied: “We believe in a mix.”
“Obviously, oil and gas is going to be with us for a very long time, and that’ll be part of the mix, but also wind, solar, increasingly nuclear,” he said.
– UK politics –
The US leader dismissed London mayor Sadiq Khan as “a nasty person” when asked whether he would visit London during his state visit set for September, following a long-running feud.
Starmer offered a defence of sorts, telling the US leader: “He’s a friend of mine, actually.”
But doubling down, Trump concluded: “I think he’s done a terrible job. But I would certainly visit London.”
Almost in the same breath he gave a thumbs-up to Starmer’s political rival, Nigel Farage, whose anti-immigrant party Reform UK is surging in the polls, pushing Labour into second place.
“I happen to like both men. I like this man a lot, and I like Nigel,” Trump said, adding: “They’re both good men,” but admitting: “I don’t know the politics over here.”
He also addressed the bitter debate about thousands of irregular migrants arriving in the UK on small boats across the Channel.
Starmer was “doing a fantastic thing” if he was tackling immigration, Trump said, highlighting his own crackdown on migrants crossing into the United States over the Mexico border.
“I know nothing about the boats,” Trump acknowledged, before adding: “The boats are loaded up with bad people… because, you know, other countries don’t send their best, they send people that they don’t want.”
jkb/jj/rlp