Tight security as Trump heads to Scotland for diplomacy and golf

July 26, 2025

AFP :

US President Donald Trump was due to arrive in Scotland on Friday for a mix of diplomacy, business and leisure, with a huge security operation swinging into place and protests planned near his family-owned golf resorts. The president, whose mother was born in Scotland, is expected to split his time between two seaside golf courses bearing his name, in southwestern coastal Turnberry and Aberdeen in the northeast.
Air Force One carrying the president and White House staff was due to arrive around at 8:20 pm local time (1920 GMT) and Trump has no public events scheduled for Saturday or Sunday, the White House said.
Police Scotland, who are bracing for mass protests in Edinburgh and Aberdeen as well as close to his golf courses, said there will be a “significant operation across the country over many days”.
An avid golfer, Trump is expected to tear himself away from the greens to meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at some point, but details of that meeting have not been released. Starmer is not reputed to be as passionate about golf as the 79-year-old Republican, and may have other concerns to tee off on.
The US and the UK announced a trade agreement in May, but London is worried about Trump’s stated intention to “refine” the deal.
The British leader, who has dodged the exorbitant import/export tariffs other countries have been saddled with, will aim to stay in the good graces of the unpredictable American leader.
The international outcry over the conflict in Gaza may also be on the agenda, amid growing pressure on Starmer to follow French President Emmanuel Macron and announce the UK will also recognise a State of Palestine.
Trump is expected to return to the UK in September for a state visit — his second — at the invitation of King Charles III, which promises to be lavish.
During a 2023 visit, Trump said he felt at home in Scotland, where his mother Mary Anne MacLeod grew up on the remote Isle of Lewis before emigrating to the United States at age 18.