Trump and Starmer to discuss Gaza ceasefire and US-UK trade at president’s Scottish golf course: Live updates

Scottish First Minister John Swinney isn’t only planning to query Trump about Gaza when the two men meet – he’s also making a pitch clear tariffs from Scotch whiskey.

‘Scotch whiskey is a unique product. It can only be produced in Scotland,’ he said Monday in comments to the BBC. ‘So there’s a uniqueness about that, which I think means there is a case for it to be taken out of the tariffs arrangement that is now in place.’

Alcohol also appears to have been left out of trade agreement Trump and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced Sunday, July 27, 2025, as France and Italy push to exempt wine and the Dutch push for beer.

Protesters are doing what they can to keep the Jeffrey Epstein saga alive on Trump’s trip despite his admonitions to the press.

A group calling itself ‘Everyone Hates Elon’ has staged a protest van plastered with a picture of Trump and Epstein together in Aberdeen, where Trump flies later Monday.

‘Welcome to Scotland, Donald,’ it says.

Trump has been asked about Epstein matters a few times on his trip, saying he had ‘nothing to do with it’ and urging a focus on his rivals.

Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney hopes to encourage Trump to make Scotch whisky exempt from US trade tarrifs, arguing that its ‘uniqueness’ justifies the exemption from the 10 per cent tariff applied on US exports into the US.

The First Minister said that the tariffs currently cost the local whisky industry up to £4million a week.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, he said: ‘Tariffs are very important for the Scottish economy and obviously scotch whisky is a unique product.

‘It can only be produced in Scotland. It’s not a product that can be produced in any other part of the world. So there’s a uniqueness about that, which I think means there is a case for it to be taken out of the tariffs arrangement that is now in place.’

One of the primary purposes of President Donald Trump’s trip to Scotland is to promote his two golf courses: Turnberry on the Ayrshire coast and a new one in Aberdeenshire.

Trump will show off both to Prime Minister Keir Starmer – all part of his desire to host the British Open at Turnberry.

Ever since buying Turnberry in 2014, Trump has been desperate to host Britian’s biggest golf championship. It has been held four times over the past 50 years at the Scottish course but not since Trump purchased it.

Trump is already playing host to two of sports’ greatest championships during his tenure in the White House: the 2026 World Cup, taking place in the United States, and the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

The British Open would give him the triple crown.

No doubt the promise of a championship would help Starmer in his trade negotiations with the president but there may be little the prime minister can do.

The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews decides which course gets the British Open and officials there have been clear they want any championship game to be focused on golf – not politics.

It won’t help that Starmer doesn’t play golf either.

Sir Keir Starmer’s plane has touched down at Glasgow’s Prestwick Airport.

He is set to be greeted by the US president when he arrives at the Turnberry golf course in Ayrshire, following a 40-minute drive.

President Trump reportedly has speakers on his golf cart designed to drown out the bellowing sounds of protestors gathered at his Tunberry course.

When Trump arrived early on Saturday morning, he came equipped with ‘a soundtrack, music blaring, a mobile disco from his golf buggy’, Sky News has reported.

Then, on Sunday, as he got closer to the crowds of protestors, he started playing ‘jazz music’ in a bid to silence any noise.

On Saturday, hundreds of demonstrators gathered on the cobblestone and tree-lined street in front of the US Consulate about 100 miles away in Edinburgh, Scotland’s capital.

Speakers told the crowd that Trump was not welcome and criticized British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for striking a recent trade deal to avoid stiff US tariffs on goods imported from the U.K.

Protests were planned in other cities as environmental activists, opponents of Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza and pro-Ukraine groups loosely formed a ‘Stop Trump Coalition.’

Despite protests from hundreds of Scots at his arrival, Trump’s history to the nation is long-standing.

His mother, Mary Anne MacLeod Trump, was born and raised just outside of Stornoway in the Isle of Lewis, and grew up in the town of Tong.

MacLeod migrated from Scotland to the U.S. at the age of 18. She would eventually marry Fred Trump and give birth to the future president.

President Trump’s new 18-hole MacLeod course in Aberdeenshire is named after his mother, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony planned on Tuesday.

On Thursday, Eric Trump aid he could not wait to see his father arrive in Scotland, adding: ‘We have just completed the greatest course on earth and waited years for this day to come.

‘I’ve never been more proud to have my father arrive in Scotland to see his original dream come to fruition. We can’t wait!‘

The Trump course with the most storied lineage is in Turnberry, on the western coast of Scotland. But golf’s biggest prize has been out of reach since Trump acquired it.

His Aberdeen courses, which son Eric Trump calls the best 36 holes in the world, are on the eastern coast.

Trump bought Turnberry for $60 million in 2014, reportedly spending $200 million improving it.

When Trump landed into Scotland on Friday, the President was greeted by Scottish Secretary Ian Murray before speaking to reporters.

Adding that it was ‘great to be in Scotland’, he said about Starmer: ‘I like your prime minister. He’s slightly more liberal than I am – as you probably heard – but he’s a good man. He got a trade deal done.’

Trump added: ‘You know, they’ve been working on this deal for 12 years, he got it done – that’s a good deal, it’s a good deal for the UK.’

European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen visited Scotland on Sunday to meet with Trump at his Turnberry golf resort.

During a short meeting, they agreed on a US tarriff on most EU goods at 15 per cent, half of what Trump had initially threatened to implement on Friday.

Goods exempt from the tarriff included aircraft and plane parts, certain chemicals and some agriculutural products.

Describing it as the ‘biggest deal ever made’ between the two nations, Trump said that he believed the deal would ‘bring us closer together’.

But Hungary’s Prime Minister seemed far from satisfied with the agreement, insisting that he believed Trump ‘ate Von der Leyen for breakfast’ and describing her as ‘featherweight’.

Meanwhile, Italian Prime Minister GTiorgia Meloni said that while the agreement was ‘positive’, she was still awaiting ‘further details’.

John Swinney has accepted an invitation to have dinner with Trump in Aberdeenshire tonight, according to Sky News.

The private dinner is set to take place ahead of a series of talks between the two leaders tomorrow.

Mr Swinney, who previously called for his official State visit to be cancelled, has pledged to ‘essentially speak out for Scotland’.

He said previously: As we welcome the President of the United States, Scotland will be showcased on the world stage. This provides Scotland with a platform to make its voice heard on the issues that matter, including war and peace, justice and democracy’

Since Trump’s arrival in Scotland on Friday, he has spent a significant amount of time at his treasured course.

On Saturday, he blocked off the day and hit the course early. Sporting a white USA baseball hat, he was joined by his son Eric Trump, who Trump says ‘is going to cut a ribbon’ when Trump inaugurates his new course in Aberdeenshire.

Also on the course with Trump at Turnberry was U.S. Ambassador Warren Stephens and his son, according to the White House.

Donald Trump, Jr. and his girlfriend Bettina Anderson were also present.

The Daily Mail has asked the White House for further information about which family members are accompanying Trump on the trip. None were seen traveling with him to Scotland aboard Air Force One. First lady Melania Trump is not expected on the golf-centered trip.

Alongside plenty of golf, Trump also met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to agree an EU-US tariff.

Since arriving in Scotland, Donald Trump has praised Sir Keir Starmer for ‘doing a very good job’.

And, during his talks with Mr Trump today, the PM will hope to use his apparently warm relationship with the US President to secure American action on key issues.

The Gaza crisis is expected to be Sir Keir’s priority during his meeting with Mr Trump.

He will hope to persuade the US President to increase diplomatic pressure on Israel over humanitarian aid to Gaza, with the PM said to be ‘horrified’ by images of starvation.

Sir Keir will also seek to convince Mr Trump to keep trying for a new ceasefire in the Middle East, after talks reached a standstill last week and the US and Israel withdrew their negotiating teams.

During talks on another conflict, the PM will hope to persuade the US President to ratchet up pressure on Vladimir Putin to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

British officials have been heartened by a shift in Mr Trump’s stance towards Russia in recent weeks.

Prior to travelling to Britain, the US President floated the possibility of further sanctions on Moscow in a bid to force Mr Putin to negotiate a peace deal.

But while Sir Keir will be hopeful of foreign policy wins in his talks with Mr Trump, the Government has played down the prospect of a further breakthrough on US-UK trade.

The two leaders are set to discuss ‘fine-tuning’ the trade agreement they signed earlier this year.

Yet hopes are slim among UK ministers of getting Mr Trump to agree this week to lower tariffs on British steel imports to America.

In February, Sir Keir Starmer travelled to the White House to visit Trump for the first time since he won the 2024 US Presidential Election.

During the discussion, the PM presented Trump with a letter from King Charles II, inviting him to the UK for a state visit.

In response, Trump accepted the invitation and described it as an ‘honour’.

The two engaged in discussions that included trade, with Trump confirming that the pair could reach a deal ‘very quickly’, joking that the PM was a ‘tough negotiator’.

Discussions surrounding Ukraine were also high on the table, with both leaders insisting they were willing to work together with the goal of peace.

Trump called Starmer a ‘very special person’, speaking about the ‘special relationship’ between the US and UK that was ‘like no other’.

Starmer also praised Trump for his role in attempting to achieve peace in Ukraine, describing the visit as ‘very good and very productive’.

Hundreds of protestores gathered in Edinburgh on Saturday, July, 26, to decry Trump’s visit.

The protests seemed to be far from Trump’s mind as he played golf alongside his son, Eric, and with the US ambassador to Britain, Warren Stephens, near Turnberry, a historic course that the Trump family’s company took over in 2014.

At Tunberry, where protestors also gathered, security was tight and protesters were kept some distance away, unable to be seen by the group during Trump’s round.

Trump is set to welcome Starmer for talks at his Turnberry golf resort in South Ayrshire this morning, the third full day of the US president’s private visit to Scotland.

The US president, who played a second round of golf at Turnberry on Sunday, will open a second 18-hole course on his Menie estate at Balmedie in Aberdeenshire later.

Ahead of his visit, a huge security operation involving officers from across the UK occured with a 10ft-high metal barrier, a ‘ring of steel’ installed at Turnberry to help protect the President.

He touched down at Prestwick Airport on Friday evening and has spent the last two days playing golf with friends and guests.

When he landed, he said it was ‘great to be in Scotland’ and spoke highly of Sir Keir, remarking to journalists on the tarmac: ‘I like your prime minister. He’s slightly more liberal than I am – as you probably heard – but he’s a good man. He got a trade deal done.’

Trump added: ‘You know, they’ve been working on this deal for 12 years, he got it done – that’s a good deal, it’s a good deal for the UK.’

Her also described Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney as a ‘good man’ and said that he was looking forward to their meeting over the weekend.

Gaza and transatlantic trade are set to be key topics discussed at today’s meeting, with Downing Street previously stating that the PM would discuss ‘what more can be done to secure the ceasefire [in the Middle East] urgently’.

The two leaders are also anticipated to discuss yesterday’s trade agreement reached between the US and EU, with the PM likely to press the president for a lowering of current tariffs on certain imports, such as steel.

Speaking from his Turnberry golf course, Trump yesterday said European Union countries would purchase $750 billion of energy from the U.S., and provide an additional $600 billion in U.S. investments.

‘All of the countries will be opened up to trade with the United States at zero tariff, and they’re agreeing to purchase a vast amount of military equipment,’ Trump added. ‘We don’t know what that number is.’

The deal was described by Trump as a ‘very powerful deal’ as well as ‘a very big deal. It’s the biggest of all the deals.’ He also called it ‘the biggest deal ever made.’

‘We wanted to rebalance the trade relations,’ said EU Commission Chair Ursula von der Leyen, confirming the agreement while sitting alongside Trump.

US President Trump landed into Prestwick Airport on Friday evening before leaving for his Turnberry resort, in South Ayrshire.

But many Scottish residents came out in protest at the President’s visit, with Anti-Trump demonstrators gathering at a rally in Aberdeen organised by the campaign group, Stop Trump Coalition.

Good morning – welcome to our live coverage as President Donald Trump and Sir Keir Starmer are set to meet on his golf course in Turnberry, Scotland today!

As we anticipate the meeting between the two world leaders, here is what we know to expect of today’s meeting: