JOHN Swinney did not raise Scottish independence with Donald Trump in the Oval Office, the Scottish Government has confirmed.
The First Minister met with the US president on September 9 in a bid to roll back a 10% tariff imposed on Scotch whisky.
It is understood that the meeting lasted around 50 minutes, with Swinney later describing the discussion as “constructive”.
And now, in response to a written parliamentary question by Scottish Tory MSP Tim Eagle, it has emerged that Swinney did not raise Scottish independence with Trump or secretary of state Marco Rubio.
Eagle’s question read: “To ask the Scottish Government whether the First Minister raised the issue of Scottish independence during his meeting with the president of the United States of America and the US secretary of state on September 9, 2025.”
In response, External Affairs Secretary Angus Robertson said: “The First Minister did not raise Scottish independence during his meeting with President Trump and the US Secretary of State.”
When asked to produce any briefing notes given to the First Minister ahead of the meeting, Robertson directed Eagle to a summary of the meeting published on the Scottish Government’s website.
The note states that Swinney used the meeting to “make the case for a better tariff deal for Scotch whisky” and “raised the international situation, including the ongoing conflict in Gaza and Qatar”.
Following the meeting, Swinney said: “Scotch whisky holds a unique position, as it can only legally be produced in Scotland. During my discussions with President Trump, I made the case to reduce the tariffs on the Scotch whisky industry – something the US industry supports.”
Robertson also confirmed, in response to another question from Eagle, that Swinney did not raise Scottish independence with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, when the pair met in July.
We told how the Scottish Government erased photographs of Swinney and Trump’s White House meeting from their official Flickr account.
In July, while the US president was giving a press conference at his golf course in Turnberry, South Ayrshire, he said he didn’t want to “get involved in your politics” in response to Swinney’s plan to win a second independence referendum.
“We got enough politics of our own,” he said. “I will say that I predicted what was going to happen the last time.”
In 2014, when Trump was opening his Aberdeen golf course during the referendum campaign, he called the result for Better Together.
Swinney also rejected calls to boycott a white-tie banquet thrown in Trump’s honour during his state visit to the UK earlier this month.
