JOHN Swinney has reportedly accepted an invitation to have dinner with Donald Trump.
The First Minister will dine with the US president in Aberdeenshire on Monday evening, Sky News reports.
It comes ahead of their official talks scheduled for Tuesday, where Swinney is expected to make the case for a tariff exemption on Scotch whisky, currently taxed at 10% for import to the US.
The First Minister (below) told BBC Breakfast: “Tariffs are very important for the Scottish economy and obviously scotch whisky is a unique product.
“It can only be produced in Scotland. It’s not a product that can be produced in any other part of the world. So there’s a uniqueness about that, which I think means there is a case for it to be taken out of the tariffs arrangement that is now in place.”
He is also expected to press the president to throw his weight behind a ceasefire in Gaza, which is expected to feature in Trump’s conversations with Keir Starmer on Monday.
Swinney has found himself under fire for courting Trump during his private visit to Scotland, which takes in trips to his golf courses in Ayrshire and [[Aberdeen]]shire.
Protests are organised to coincide Trump’s visit to his resort at Menie – to which Swinney pledged an £180,000 cash injection from the public purse.
Swinney has also claimed that Trump’s visit could boost tourism to Scotland.
Writing in the Daily Record, the First Minister said that “millions of Americans including Trump have ancestral links to Scotland and that the US was “our largest inward investor” and “Scotland’s top international export destination”.
He cited Trump’s visit as an opportunity for American citizens to “see the very best that our country has to offer” and that “many of those watching this visit are, of course, future potential tourists and investors in Scotland”.
Speaking over the weekend, Stop Trump Scotland organiser Alena Ivanova said that the Scottish Government had to be held to account for “handing over hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayer money for a golf tournament hosted at Trump International even while he attempts to bully us with tariffs”.
She added: “This message is to Donald Trump but also our elected leaders preparing to meet him: there is no place for Trumpism in Scotland.”
Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie also criticised the cash award for the [[Aberdeen]]shire golf course ahead of the Nexo Championship next month, saying: “This shames Scotland. It's an embarrassing attempt to please a bully and shows the same craven attitude as [[Keir Starmer]]. We should be standing in solidarity with the people on the receiving end of [[Donald Trump]]’s regime.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: "The First Minister looks forward to representing Scotland when he meets with the President at the Trump International Golf Course at Menie in [[Aberdeen]]shire."
