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Scotland’s first minister John Swinney hosted Donald Trump’s son Eric on Thursday for a “very warm and friendly” assembly in his official residence in Edinburgh, though the dialog prevented politics and targeted on golf and funding.
Swinney, who every week in the past argued {that a} second state go to to the UK for the US president needs to be conditional on Washington’s continued help for Ukraine, “regularly meets with business people regarding investment in Scotland”, a Scottish authorities spokesperson mentioned.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, visiting Trump on the White Home final month, handed on an official invitation for a second state go to from King Charles, together with visiting the monarch in Scotland.
The go to of Eric Trump to Bute Home comes amid rising European concern over the Trump administration’s strategy to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and a widening commerce struggle, together with tariffs on metal and aluminium imports which might be more likely to have an effect on the UK.
The president owns two golf resorts in his mom’s homeland, at Turnberry in Ayrshire and at Balmedie in Aberdeenshire, the place a second 18-hole course is about to open over the summer season. Trump is broadly anticipated to attend the opening.
Eric Trump, govt vice-president of the Trump Group conglomerate, mentioned the primary minister had thanked him for the corporate’s “ongoing colossal investment and commitment to Scotland”.
“This is the first time that I’ve heard those words from the first minister and they were hugely appreciated,” he mentioned in an announcement.
As Trump on Thursday threatened punitive measures on the EU’s alcohol exports, Swinney has been at pains to guard main Scottish exports corresponding to whisky and salmon. Trump hit Scotch whisky with tariffs in his first time period.
The discussions targeted on enterprise and funding, with Trump’s firm saying it was dedicated to creating the Scottish resorts “two of the most iconic golf destinations in the world”.
Throughout Starmer’s go to to Washington final month, Trump’s group raised the potential for Turnberry internet hosting golf’s oldest worldwide match, the Open Championship — a choice managed by the R&A, the executive physique that runs the Open.
Final weekend, activists sprayed Turnberry’s buildings with pink paint and daubed “Gaza is not for sale” on one of many greens, a reference to Trump’s proposal to resettle Palestinians from the war-torn enclave and switch it into “the riviera of the Middle East”.
