ABERDEEN, Scotland — President Donald Trump gave a rare tip of the cap to the media as he oversaw the grand opening of a golf course in Aberdeen, the celebratory culmination of a golf-themed diplomatic tour of his properties in Scotland.
“So thank you, everybody, thank you to the media,” Trump told attendees before teeing off at the New Course at Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeen. “The media has been terrific, believe it or not. I didn’t use the word ‘fake news’ one time, not one time. Today, they’re not fake news. Today, they’re wonderful news … and they respect what we’ve done, really, at a level that you rarely see nowadays. So, I really, very much, appreciate it.”
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Trump visited Aberdeen after meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at Trump Turnberry, where the president also hosted European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for the unveiling of a tariff deal with the European Union. Starmer, who ended 14 years of Conservative Party rule in the United Kingdom when his Labour Party romped to victory in 2024, visited Trump in Glasgow before traveling with him to Aberdeen, as the prime minister and his allies embraced a golf-themed opportunity to cultivate a rapport with Trump.
“Look, I don’t think you can downplay the importance of soft power,” Scottish Labour Leader Anas Sarwar told reporters during a brief gaggle near the driving range. “We have a soft power relationship as a U.K. with the U.S., but we have a significant soft power relationship between Scotland and the U.S. … I don’t think we leverage it anywhere near enough to attract investment, tourism, and export from Scotland. And I think if we can do that with a president who — I believe him when he says he has a love for Scotland, I’ve seen from his family and his business the genuine affection he has for Scotland — if we can use that to work in our national interest, to attract better economic outcomes for people in this country, then fantastic.”
If that sentiment sounds like a sensible commonplace, the underlying fact is that Trump’s polarizing public image is such that Labour Party leaders such as Starmer and Sarwar have domestic political incentives, or even pressures, to have a more confrontational relationship with the American president. To maintain that posture, Sarwar had to navigate the question of whether Trump is a racist, as a British journalist asked.
“Look, I’ve disagreed with many of his statements before, I’ve called out many of his statements before,” he said. “It feels like this president, this time, has a different approach from the first time ’round. … It’s safe to say, we come from very different political spectrums.”
Even under the auspicious circumstances of Trump’s preparations to open the course, the ideological tensions could not be wholly obscured, not least when the president expressed his dislike for London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
“I’m not a fan of your mayor, I think he’s done a terrible job,” Trump said Monday during a media appearance with Starmer. “A nasty person, I think.”
Starmer mustered a laugh and an endorsement of the mayor, in an apparent effort to discourage further criticism without running the risk of a dispute with Trump.
“He’s a friend of mine, actually,” the prime minister affirmed.
Starmer’s mild-mannered approach in that episode underscored the domestic political downside of the week for the British leader, who has been lampooned in British media for attending to Trump at Turnberry, on the grounds that the setting made him “a guest in his own country.” On Tuesday, Sarwar dismissed the suggestion that Starmer “should have done more to defend” his mayoral colleague by invoking the spectre of Trump’s unexpected on-camera confrontation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office in February.
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“Given past press conferences that people will have seen, does it make sense for us to have a full-blown open argument in front of the world’s media?” Sarwar responded. “I’m sure you would have loved it for television. Loved it for reporting. Is it good for diplomacy and outcomes? Perhaps not.”
A tour of the course made for much better diplomacy. “The prime minister was here last night and was really very gracious, and loves the place, loves the area,” Trump said. “So, I just want to thank him very much for coming. And we gave him a little preview, and it was really very nice.”
The ceremony underscored the extent to which there are two Donald Trumps in Scotland. The president and his family have been criticized for mixing personal business interests with politics and diplomacy, particularly in his second term. Yet Trump cuts a more congenial figure on the British stage in his capacity as a businessman than as a politician.
“To have the president of the United States, the first minister of Scotland [John Swinney] and, yesterday, the prime minister all here together shines a wonderful light on our sport,” PGA European Tour CEO Guy Kinnings said during the event. “Their presence is validation of the appeal of golf, both as a sport and as an industry. Hosting professional golf tournaments brings global exposure, as well as proven economic and social benefits for host venues and for regions.”
Tourism from the United States is a major part of the Scottish economy, with American visitors accounting for 20% of all overseas trips to Scotland and 34% of all overseas spending in Scotland in 2023, according to Visit Scotland.
In the golf context, political pressures may be further eased by the fact that the family business defers to some of the liberal sensibilities that the president so famously flouts. Trump International Scotland went to great lengths to show “environmental sensitivity and long-term sustainability” in the construction of the course, as they emphasized to journalists.
“Key initiatives include: An innovative freshwater and drainage system that collects and reuses water from across the site to irrigate all 36 holes. The translocation of over 10 hectares of native vegetation to preserve indigenous plant habitats. The planting of more than 1 million sprigs and the harvesting of 6 tonnes of marram grass seed. The development of new wetland and dune slack areas, encouraging the formation of wildlife habitats.”
In parallel, Trump fumed about the construction of wind turbines in the North Sea adjacent to his Aberdeen courses — “some of the ugliest you’ve ever seen,” as he put it this week — and called for the British government to expand oil drilling.
“North Sea Oil is a treasure chest for the United Kingdom,” Trump wrote on social media on Tuesday. “The taxes are so high, however, that it makes no sense. They have essentially told drillers and oil companies that, ‘we don’t want you’. Incentivize the drillers, fast. A vast fortune to be made for the UK, and far lower energy costs for the people!”
Trump’s post echoed British conservative criticism of a so-called “windfall tax” imposed in 2022. Sarwar defended the tax as a way to fix an “imbalance” that he believes is reflected in the costs of energy and the profits of oil and gas companies. And he suggested that oil and gas companies are not taking full advantage of the licenses to drill that they’ve already received.
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In any case, Sarwar said Starmer was maintaining the good vibes for good reason.
“How do we use the positive relationship for national interest, for economic interest, but also for global peace and security interest?” he said. “And that’s the part where I think our prime minister actually is playing a very positive role.”