July 25 (UPI) — President Donald Trump leaves for Scotland today for a visit through Tuesday to see his two golf resorts and refine the trade deal with the United Kingdom in a meeting with Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Scotland is the home of Trump’s mother, but it’s also where he’s faced strong protests in previous visits.
He plans to visit his Turnberry and Aberdeen golf clubs, and meet with Starmer. Britain and the United States already reached a trade deal in June, but this meeting is to refine it. The deal was to cut tariffs and improve trade between the two countries.
As Trump prepares for his Aug. 1 deadline for trade agreements, he’s pushing countries to make deals with him to prevent high tariff rates. The U.K.’s agreement kept a 10% universal tariff while lowering tariffs on automobiles and steel. The U.K. said it will open its markets for U.S. agricultural products such as beef and ethanol.
Trump has said he will likely meet Starmer at one of his properties.
Protests are planned for the visit. The Stop Trump Coalition said it is organizing demonstrations in Aberdeen and in Edinburgh outside the U.S. consulate for Saturday. Its goal is to “defeat the politics of Trumpism, and to promote an alternative, democratic vision of the world based on peace, social justice and international cooperation.”
Trump opened his Aberdeen course in 2012 and bought the Turnberry resort in 2014. He is opening a second course on the Aberdeen property, naming it after his mother Mary Anne Macleod.
The president plans to visit the U.K. again Sept. 17-19. That trip will be more formal as he will meet with King Charles III at Windsor Castle.
“He is honored and looking forward to meeting with his majesty the king,” said White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt, calling the trip “truly unprecedented.”
Trump has called the U.S. relationship with the U.K. “the highest level of special.”