JOHN Swinney has congratulated Donald Trump on his inauguration – saying hope the “strong and lasting” ties between Scotland and the United States would “flourish” under his administration.
The First Minister said: “I congratulate Donald Trump on his inauguration as the 47th president of the United States. We greatly appreciate the strong and lasting social, cultural and economic ties Scotland has with the United States.
“The Scottish Government will work to ensure these ties continue to flourish, according to the values shared by both of our countries.”
Swinney previously revealed he planned to appeal to Trump's "warmth" towards Scotland and his family ties to the country – his mother was from the Western Isles – to help Scotch whisky escape the new tariffs regime.
Trump was sworn in for the second time as president on Monday to become the second president in American history to serve two non-consecutive terms.
In his inaugural address, Trump pledged a new “golden age of America” during a bombastic ceremony which drew right-wing figures from across the globe, including Nigel Farage, Giorgia Meloni, Javier Milei and others to Washington DC.
His victory has caused deep anxiety in Westminster, with Labour attempting to woo Trump despite previous slights.
Trump is weighing up whether to approve the appointment of Peter Mandelson as the UK’s new ambassador in Washington, the fate of the Chagos Islands deal and the extent to which tariffs will hit Britain.
In his inauguration address, he promised to “tariff and tax foreign countries” – although gave no details of how he would implement his policy.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy congratulated Trump on his return to the White House, saying “there are no greater allies than the UK and US”.
“Our close economic, security, intelligence and cultural ties deliver growth and prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic,” he said.
“I look forward to further strengthening the special relationship over the years to come.”
Lammy is one of a number of high-profile Labour figures who have expressed trenchant opinions about Trump in the past, calling him a “racist and KKK/neo-Nazi sympathiser”.
Relations between the Trump camp and Starmer’s party descended into a legal row after Labour volunteers campaigned for Kamala Harris during her unsuccessful election campaign.
But Lammy has sought to build bridges with the president’s allies and the Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister met Trump in New York in September.
The US president is known to admire the royal family, and the King sent Trump a personal message of congratulations on his inauguration.
One potential issue for the special relationship is Trump’s desire to use economic tariffs to protect American businesses.
Imposing tariffs on the UK would make British exports to the US more expensive for consumers.
Outlining his plans, Trump said: “Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens.
“For this purpose, we are establishing the external revenue service to collect all tariffs, duties and revenues, it will be massive amounts of money pouring into our Treasury coming from foreign sources.”
Prime ministers have historically not attended the inauguration of a new president and Starmer (below) was not in America for the ceremony. They have, however, generally sought to be among the first to visit a new president.
Lammy said: “I think that when you look at past prime ministers, it’s taken between a week or up to a month to come to Washington. The importance is the strength of the relationship and the serious discussions that we have.
“In the end, we have war in Europe, we have a ceasefire in the Middle East, but it’s incredibly fragile, and there are important malign actors like Iran that we’ve got to discuss with the United States and, of course, our growing trade relations with the United States.
“So, lots to discuss, and I’m very confident that Keir Starmer will be discussing this with Donald Trump within the next few weeks.”
