Protesters are ramping up for multiple demonstrations. The UK prime minister is planning a visit. Golf is likely on the agenda.
President Donald Trump is heading back to Scotland, a place that holds special significance for him, from July 25-29.
Scotland is the birthplace of Trump’s mother and a place where he owns two golf resorts, one of which is poised to open a new golf course. Yet he hasn’t always had a warm reception there, clashing with residents over his resort plans and facing protests over his politics.
While more protests are in the works, Trump should get a friendly greeting from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer as the two meet to talk trade ahead of a formal state visit to the United Kingdom in September.
The Scottish trip is a prelude to that pomp-filled state visit, where Trump will meet with British royalty. Here’s what to know about the trip.
Refining trade deal
The United Kingdom was the first country to reach a trade agreement with the Trump administration after the president paused his reciprocal tariffs in April.
Trump is ramping up his tariff push again, and more countries are agreeing to trade pacts ahead of an Aug. 1 deadline for new levies to take effect. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president and Starmer will work to “refine” their trade agreement during the Scotland trip. The UK is America’s ninth largest trading partner.
Trump’s UK trade deal kept a 10% universal tariff on the country while lowering tariffs on automobiles and steel. The UK pledged to open its markets for U.S. agricultural products such as beef and ethanol.
A view of the hotel at the Trump Turnberry Golf Resort Turnberry, Scotland, Britain October 3, 2020. Trump is visiting his two Scottish golf resorts during a five-day trip starting July 25.
Protests planned
While Trump meets with Starmer, protesters will gather around Scotland to blast the president.
The UK-based Stop Trump Coalition is organizing demonstrations in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Dumfries, according to its website. The group organized large protests when Trump visited the UK during his first administration and relaunched after his re-election.
Stop Trump Coalition said it is working to “To defeat the politics of Trumpism, and to promote an alternative, democratic vision of the world based on peace, social justice and international cooperation.”
Protesters wave flags and signs on the road leading into Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeen, Scotland, June 25, 2016. Trump is visiting the property as part of a five-day trip to Scotland starting July 25.
Windsor Castle up next
Trump will be back in the United Kingdom from Sept. 17-19 for a more elaborate visit that includes meeting with King Charles III at Windsor Castle.
Trump is an admirer of the British royalty. He met Queen Elizabeth II, who died in 2022, twice during his first term as president, visiting Windsor Castle in 2018 and dining with the queen at Buckingham Palace during a 2019 state visit. Trump’s September trip will be his second state visit to Britain, a first for a U.S. president.
President Donald Trump and Britain’s Queen Elizabeth raise their glasses to make a toast at the State Banquet at Buckingham Palace in London, Britain, June 3, 2019.
“He is honored and looking forward to meeting with his majesty the king,” Leavitt said, calling the trip “truly unprecedented.”
Trump met with King Charles’ heir to the throne, Prince William, in December in France during the reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral.
Trump has called the U.S. relationship with the UK “the highest level of special.” Scotland, in particular, has personal significance for the president.
Trump’s Scottish resorts and controversy
Scotland is closely associated with the game of golf and its history, and Trump is an avid golfer with an extensive portfolio of golf properties.
The president is visiting his Scottish golf resorts, Trump Turnberry on the west coast and Trump International Scotland in Aberdeen on the east coast.
The Aberdeen property has been a headache for Trump for years. He faced opposition to his development plans for the property and waged an unsuccessful legal battle to block a wind turbine farm off the coast.
But the president can now celebrate the development of a second golf course at Trump International Scotland. The second course will open on Aug. 13, according to the resort’s website.
A view of the hotel at the Trump Turnberry Golf Resort Turnberry, Scotland, Britain October 3, 2020. Trump is visiting his two Scottish golf resorts during a five-day trip starting July 25.
Trump has pushed to have the Turnberry property host the Open Championship, one of the four major golf tournaments, but organizers say it presents logistical issues. A pro-Palestinian group recently vandalized the property that has previously been the site of four British Open events.
Beyond his resorts, Trump is connected to Scotland through family lineage. His mother was born Mary Anne MacLeod in Tong, a village on the Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides islands. She immigrated to New York in the 1930s.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump’s Scotland trip: Protests, trade talks and a new golf course
