Trump plays golf in Scotland as protesters rally
Peter Hutchison
, AFP
US President Donald Trump reacts as he plays golf at the Trump Turnberry Golf Courses, in Turnberry on the south west coast of Scotland.
Photo:
ANDY BUCHANAN
US President Donald Trump played golf under tight security on the first full day of a visit to Scotland, as hundreds of protesters took to the streets in major cities.
Trump played at his Turnberry resort with son Eric and US ambassador to the UK Warren Stephens, waving to photographers following his arrival in his mother's birth country on Friday evening (US Time).
His presence has turned the picturesque and normally quiet area of southwest Scotland into a virtual fortress, with roads closed and police checkpoints in place.
Police officers - some on quad bikes and others on foot with sniffer dogs - patrolled the famous course and the sandy beaches and grass dunes that flank it.
Secret Service snipers were positioned at vantage points while some other golfers on the course were patted down by security personnel.
The 79-year-old
Trump touched down on Friday
at nearby Prestwick Airport as hundreds of onlookers came out to see Air Force One and catch a glimpse of its famous passenger.
The president has professed a love of Scotland, but his controversial politics and business investments in the country have made for an uneasy relationship.
Speaking to reporters on the tarmac, Trump immediately waded into the debate surrounding high levels of irregular migration, and lashed out at renewable energy efforts.
"You better get your act together or you're not going to have Europe anymore," he said, adding that migration was "killing" the continent.
"Stop the windmills. You're ruining your countries," he added.
Trump's five-day visit, which is set to mix leisure with business and diplomacy, has divided the local community.
Demonstrators hold placards during a 'Stop Trump Coalition' protest near the US Consulate building in Edinburgh, Scotland on July 26, 2025.
Photo:
SCOTT HEPPELL
Several hundred protesters demonstrated outside the US consulate in the capital Edinburgh and in the city of Aberdeen, near where Trump owns another golf resort.
The protests were organised by the Stop Trump Coalition.
Participants held placards with slogans like "Scotland hates Trump" and waved Palestinian flags.
"I am here because of fascism in America under Trump's rule. I am here because of genocide in Gaza that is being funded and enabled by British and American governments," 44-year-old Amy Hanlon in Aberdeen said.
No demonstrations could be seen near Turnberry.
Not everyone was against his visit. At Prestwick Airport on Friday evening a boy held a sign that read "Welcome Trump" while a man waved a flag emblazoned with Trump's most famous slogan - "Make America Great Again".
"I think the best thing about Trump is he's not actually a politician yet he's the most powerful man in the world and I think he's looking at the best interests of his own country," 46-year-old Lee McLean said, who had travelled from nearby Kilmarnock.
"Most politicians should really be looking at the best interests of their own country first before looking overseas," he told AFP.
Golf buggy's are pictured on a course at the Trump Turnberry Golf Courses whilst US President Donald Trump plays.
Photo:
ANDY BUCHANAN
Trump had no public events scheduled for Saturday, but he posted on his Truth Social network to say he was
talking with the leaders of Cambodia and Thailand in a bid to end their border conflict
that has left at least 33 people dead.
Trump is due to discuss trade with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen in Turnberry on Sunday.
He is also due to meet UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, before heading to Balmedie in Aberdeenshire where he is expected to formally open a new golf course at his resort there.
Trump is scheduled to return to the US on Tuesday but will be back in the UK for a state visit between 17-19 September, when he will be hosted by King Charles III.
- AFP
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
2 hours ago
- RNZ News
US and EU reach trade deal after Trump meets EU chief
world world politics 28 minutes ago The US and EU have just reached a trade deal, after talks between President Trump and the EU president Ursula von der Leyen in Scotland. Correspondent Nick Harper spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.
RNZ News
2 hours ago
- RNZ News
Trump announces US and EU reached framework for a trade deal
By Auzinea Bacon and Alejandra Jaramillo , CNN US President Donald Trump is in Scotland. Photo: ANDY BUCHANAN President Donald Trump announced Sunday that the United States and the European Union reached a framework for a trade deal after talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Turnberry, Scotland. "The European Union is going to agree to purchase from the United States $750 billion worth of energy," Trump said. "They are going to agree to invest into the United States $600 billion more than they're investing already." Trump began talks with von der Leyen earlier Sunday with Friday's deadline looming to reach a trade deal to avoid 30 percent tariffs on European imports. Trump said the United States could not go lower than a 15 percent across-the-board tariff rate for the European Union. The framework comes after Trump announced duties on most EU goods would be increased from the 10 percent universal baseline to a 30 percent levy on August 1, citing that the United States and European Union have one of the "largest trade deficits" and failed to reach a deal by Trump's previous July 9 deadline. At a news conference ahead of the talks, Von der Leyen told Trump he is "known as a tough negotiator and dealmaker." European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called Trump a "tough negotiator". Photo: AFP /NICOLAS TUCAT Trump reaffirmed that tariff letters to other US trading partners who failed to secure a deal will face new duties on Friday, with the exception of tariffs on steel and aluminium. "Most of the deals, other than steel and aluminium, which we've been getting 50 percent tariffs from," he said. Earlier on Sunday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said there would be no further extensions or grace periods after August 1, but "big economies" can continue trade talks with the United States. Lutnick is in Scotland with Trump for EU trade talks. "August 1, the tariffs are set. They'll go into place," Lutnick said in an appearance on "Fox News Sunday." - CNN
RNZ News
2 hours ago
- RNZ News
Will the government's changes bring down building costs?
Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk said the change would have the potential to reduce total building costs by thousands of dollars. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone Opposition parties say while the devil will be in the details on the government's latest building products changes, they support in principle what looks like a "sensible" change. But Labour and the Greens are also criticising the coalition's cancellation of hundreds of construction projects, saying that is what has led to a downturn in the industry. They also say delaying changes to the Building Code will mean New Zealand lags behind the rest of the world. The government on Sunday announced it would be releasing a list of overseas certification schemes that would automatically qualify products for use in New Zealand . Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk said the list would "have the potential to reduce total building costs by thousands of dollars when building a home". "There are thousands of well-made, high performing products that have been tested against rigourous international standards but have faced barriers for uptake here, purely because they have not been specifically tested against our own standards. From tomorrow it will be much easier to use plasterboard manufactured in New Zealand, Australia, UK, Europe and the United States," he said. "This is just the beginning of our work to open the door to more building products, lower the cost of homes and turbo charge the construction sector and there will be more to come." He also announced a pause on "any new major changes to the Building Code system" and shifting instead to a "predictable three-year cycle for Building Code system updates". "This new approach will give businesses the clarity they need to prepare in advance, rather than constantly having to react to unexpected rule changes." The government will be releasing releasing a list of overseas certification schemes that would automatically qualify products for use in New Zealand. Photo: 123RF ACT's Building and Construction spokesperson Cameron Luxton was a builder in 2022 during the plasterboard crisis that saw some builders paying six times the standard price for 'GIB' branded plasterboard. "I had designers trying to get changes to the existing consents so that we could use other types of wall lining ... if we could have recognized overseas plaster boards and the components around their systems, we would have been able to get things built in New Zealand a lot easier and a lot quicker during that time," he said. "Those crazy days of the post-Covid building construction boom with us at the moment but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't be focusing on getting the price of all building down." ACT's Building and Construction spokesperson Cameron Luxton Photo: VNP / Phil Smith He said the government's approach was almost exactly the same as what ACT campaigned on. "What we campaigned on was a recognised list of products. The bill came into the house as that, it's been through select committee, we've come out the other side with it being schemes, standards and products. "Minister Penk has done an incredibly good job engaging with the industry and making sure that this bill works - it's so close to ACT's you couldn't find much air between our original policy and this one, it's the same principle, called some different things." Both Labour and the Greens supported the bill through the legislative process. Labour's Building and Construction spokesperson Arena Williams said it was likely to make it easier for building products to get into the New Zealand market, and increase competition - but that doing so was one of the recommendations of the Commerce Commission study launched under Labour. "We think this is an important step, but the government has talked a big game on lowering the cost of building because that's an excuse for absolutely collapsing the building and construction sector and seeing 17,000 jobs lost since the day of the election." She pointed to a range of projects that had been cut - Kāinga Ora public housing, school builds, the downgrading of hospital builds - saying that had directly led to those jobs being lost. Labour's Building and Construction spokesperson Arena Williams. Photo: VNP / Phil Smith The minister was now admitting the solution would not be a silver bullet for the sector, she said. "Now they're saying this will only be part of the solution and it won't do everything that's needed to bring costs down ... they have no answer for a building and construction sector that's on its knees, it's slumped lower than it did in the global financial crisis, and we're seeing thousands of young Kiwi builders going offshore." Announcing the change without releasing the detail until the next day was "an unusual way to do things," she said. Williams said she planed to carefully examine the standards when made public, to ensure they were sensible. Green Party Building and Construction spokesperson Julie Anne Genter took her criticism of the approach further. "We see every week pretty much announcements on a Sunday don't have any substantive new actions or information, and in the last few weeks, it's been related to the building sector or infrastructure, because the government is desperate to turn around the narrative. "This is very much a government that is focused on PR spend more than substance." She said the changes themselves "could be great or it could be terrible, depending on which building products and which licensing schemes they're looking at". "The devil will be in the detail. The detail hasn't yet been released. But I really can say that the government has put the construction sector in a terrible position by cancelling hundreds of projects related to public homes, which we need now more than ever. I saw last month, one third of company liquidations for construction firms, and that was up on last year." She criticised the pause on Building Code changes. "That is a huge lost opportunity. The previous government had a work programme on building for climate change and it was going to address a lot of the issues that we have in terms of energy efficiency, resilience," she said. "The certainty is we're not moving forward with our Building Code, they're providing the certainty that we're going to lag behind most other countries and have a much longer period before we have sustainable, healthy buildings." "Ultimately, this is not enough to help New Zealand with the problems we're facing when they've cancelled so many public home builds." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
