Trump's trip to Scotland as his new golf course opens blurs politics and the family's business
EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — Lashed by cold winds and overlooking choppy, steel-gray North Sea waters, the breathtaking sand dunes of Scotland's northeastern coast rank among Donald Trump 's favorite spots on earth.
'At some point, maybe in my very old age, I'll go there and do the most beautiful thing you've ever seen," Trump said in 2023, during his New York civil fraud trial, talking about his plans for future developments on his property in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire.
At 79 and back in the White House, Trump is making at least part of that pledge a reality, traveling to Scotland on Friday as his family's business prepares for the Aug. 13 opening of a new course it is billing as 'the greatest 36 holes in golf."
While there, Trump will talk trade with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, a meeting he's said will take place at 'probably one of my properties.'
The Aberdeen area is already home to another of his courses, Trump International Scotland, and the president also plans to visit a Trump course near Turnberry, around 200 miles (320 kilometers) away on Scotland's southwest coast.
Using this week's presidential overseas trip — with its sprawling entourage of advisers, White House and support staffers, Secret Service agents and reporters — to help show off Trump-brand golf destinations demonstrates how the president has become increasingly comfortable intermingling his governing pursuits with promoting his family's business interests.
The White House has brushed off questions about potential conflicts of interest, arguing that Trump's business success before he entered politics was a key to his appeal with voters.
White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers called the Scotland swing a 'working trip." But she added that Trump 'has built the best and most beautiful world-class golf courses anywhere in the world, which is why they continue to be used for prestigious tournaments and by the most elite players in the sport.' Trump family's new golf course has tee times for sale
Trump went to Scotland to play his Turnberry course during his first term in 2018 while en route to a meeting in Finland with Russian President Vladimir Putin. This time, his trip comes as the new golf course is about to debut and is already actively selling tee times.
It's not cheap for the president to travel.
The helicopters that operate as Marine One when the president is on board cost between $16,700 and nearly $20,000 per hour to operate, according to Pentagon data for fiscal year 2022. The modified Boeing 747s that serve as the iconic Air Force One cost about $200,000 per hour to fly. That's not to mention the military cargo aircraft that fly ahead of the president with his armored limousines and other official vehicles.
'We're at a point where the Trump administration is so intertwined with the Trump business that he doesn't seem to see much of a difference,' said Jordan Libowitz, vice president and spokesperson for the ethics watchdog organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. 'It's as if the White House were almost an arm of the Trump Organization.'
During his first term, the Trump Organization signed an ethics pact barring deals with foreign companies. An ethics frameworks for Trump's second term allows them.
Trump's assets are in a trust run by his children, who are also handling day-to-day operations of the Trump Organization while he's in the White House. The company has inked many recent, lucrative foreign agreements involving golf courses, including plans to build luxury developments in Qatar and Vietnam, even as the administration continues to negotiate tariff rates for those countries and around the globe. Trump's first Aberdeen course has sparked legal battles
Trump's existing Aberdeenshire course, meanwhile, has a history nearly as rocky as the area's cliffs.
It has struggled to turn a profit and was found by Scottish conservation authorities to have partially destroyed nearby sand dunes. Trump's company also was ordered to cover the Scottish government's legal costs after the course unsuccessfully sued over the construction of a nearby wind farm, arguing in part that it hurt golfers' views.
And the development was part of the massive civil case, which accused Trump of inflating his wealth to secure loans and make business deals.
Trump's company's initial plans for his first Aberdeen-area course called for a luxury hotel and nearby housing. His company received permission to build 500 houses, but Trump suggested he'd be allowed to build five times as many and borrowed against their values without actually building any homes, the lawsuit alleged.
Judge Arthur Engoron found Trump liable last year and ordered his company to pay $355 million in fines — a judgment that has grown with interest to more than $510 million as Trump appeals. Golfers-in-chief
Family financial interests aside, Trump isn't the first sitting U.S. president to golf in Scotland. That was Dwight D. Eisenhower, who played in Turnberry in 1959. George W. Bush visited the famed course at Gleneagles in 2005 but didn't play.
Many historians trace golf back to Scotland in the Middle Ages. Among the earliest known references to game was a Scottish Parliament resolution in 1457 that tried to ban it, along with soccer, because of fears both were distracting men from practicing archery — then considered vital to national defense.
The first U.S. president to golf regularly was William Howard Taft, who served from 1909 to 1913 and ignored warnings from his predecessor, Teddy Roosevelt, that playing too much would make it seem like he wasn't working hard enough.
Woodrow Wilson played nearly every day but Sundays, and even had the Secret Service paint his golf balls red so he could practice in the snow, said Mike Trostel, director of the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Warren G. Harding trained his dog Laddie Boy to fetch golf balls while he practiced. Lyndon B. Johnson's swing was sometimes described as looking like a man trying to kill a rattlesnake.
Bill Clinton, who liked to joke that he was the only president whose game improved while in office, restored a putting green on the White House's South Lawn. It was originally installed by Eisenhower, who was such an avid user that he left cleat marks in the wooden floors of the Oval Office by the door leading out to it.
Bush stopped golfing after the start of the Iraq war in 2003 because of the optics. Barack Obama had a golf simulator installed in the White House that Trump upgraded during his first term, Trostel said.
John F. Kennedy largely hid his love of the game as president, but he played on Harvard's golf team and nearly made a hole-in-one at California's renowned Cypress Point Golf Club just before the 1960 Democratic National Convention.
'I'd say, between President Trump and President John F. Kennedy, those are two of the most skilled golfers we've had in the White House,' Trostel said.
Trump, Trostel said, has a handicap index — how many strokes above par a golfer is likely to score — of a very strong 2.5, though he's not posted an official round with the U.S. Golf Association since 2021. That's better than Joe Biden's handicap of 6.7, which also might be outdated, and Obama, who once described his own handicap as an 'honest 13.'
The White House described Trump as a championship-level golfer but said he plays with no handicap.
___
Associated Press writer Chris Megerian in Washington contributed to this report. in this topic
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
A Data Deluge Brings a ‘Moment of Truth' for Markets This Week
(Bloomberg) -- Wall Street pros are staring down a pivotal week that will likely set the tone for the rest of the year in markets and the economy. The High Costs of Trump's 'Big Beautiful' New Car Loan Deduction Can This Bridge Ease the Troubled US-Canadian Relationship? Trump Administration Sues NYC Over Sanctuary City Policy First and foremost is the conclusion of the Federal Reserve's meeting on Wednesday, and although it isn't expected to cut interest rates, traders and investors will be poring over commentary for clues about the path ahead. Then there's a string of Big Tech earnings with Inc., Apple Inc., Meta Platforms Inc. and Microsoft Corp. all reporting. And sprinkled throughout are some of the leading indicators on the state of the economy, from gross domestic product to nonfarm payrolls. In other words, if there ever was a five-day stretch that would define the second half of the year, this is it. 'This week's packed calendar — trade negotiations, the FOMC, the jobs report and four of the Magnificent Seven names reporting — makes it truly a moment of truth for markets,' said Julian Emanuel, chief equity and quantitative strategist at Evercore ISI. He was referring to the Federal Open Market Committee, the panel within the Fed that sets interest rates. The fire hose of releases will test investors' faith in the resilience of the US economy and the stock market's seemingly unstoppable rise. And with President Donald Trump's self-imposed tariff deadline of Aug. 1 — which he's said won't be extended — markets are hoping for some sense of stability on trade negotiations after months of whiplash. 'I think there is more of a chance of markets getting clarity on the continued resilience of the economy, while we get less clarity on the trade front,' said Kevin Gordon, senior investment strategist for Charles Schwab & Co. ''Reciprocal tariff' deadlines are staggered for some of our largest partners, and there are still lingering questions around already-announced deal frameworks, so I don't think of Aug. 1 as some magical date on which we'll stop being gripped by tariff anxiety.' S&P 500 companies are generally beating forecasts and profits are up 4.5% from this time a year ago, according to Bloomberg Intelligence data. Firms like Southwest Airlines Co., which said tariffs shaved $1 billion from its annual pre-tax profit this year, expect to see improvements in the second half. 'We already see signs that demand is coming back in volumes,' Chief Executive Officer Bob Jordan said in an interview. Much of the earnings strength is being driven by wealthier customers. American Airlines Group Inc. highlighted strength in their premium cabin demand, while Deckers Outdoor Corp. cited pricey shoes like Ugg sheepskin boots and Hoka sneakers. United Airlines Holdings Inc. and Delta Air Lines Inc., said corporate travel was leading their rebounds. On the flip side, Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. cut its guidance because the 'lower-income consumer is under pressure,' Chief Executive Officer Scott Boatwright said, which has led to a drop in spending. There are other signs of stress, with companies like Conagra Brands Inc. and Abbott Laboratories discussing higher costs due to tariffs. In particular, consumer discretionary stocks are expected to see profit declines into the start of 2026 as trade policies start to bite, Bloomberg Intelligence strategists Gina Martin Adams and Michael Casper warn. 'We already have some corporate commentary as to what effect tariffs are having and will at an individual level,' said Dan Greenhaus, chief economist and market strategist at Solus Alternative Asset Management. 'But the truth is, we probably need several more months before having a firmer handle on the cost distribution.' Economic Uncertainty Economic data has also been uneven as the tariff impact is just starting to hit. The government's initial estimate of second-quarter GDP is expected to show a notable rebound in growth after a monumental surge in imports caused a contraction at the start of the year. 'It won't be until after the market and economy have had an opportunity to digest the new tariff rates that become effective on Friday that we will know where we stand,' said Michael O'Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading LLC. Other reports due this week may point to some softening in the economy. Economists expect consumer spending barely grew in June after adjusting for inflation, and other estimates point to a continued slowdown in hiring and uptick in unemployment. They're also projecting an acceleration in the Fed's preferred measure of inflation — the personal consumption expenditures price index — as tariffs start to hit. 'It's not the cliff that most people are always looking for when it comes to an economic downturn, but it is a visible slowdown if you take the time to actually lift the hood and look at the underlying details,' said Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY-Parthenon. Despite all the uncertainty, the stock market is trading at record highs as fears of worst-case tariff scenarios have failed to materialize. The question is how long that can last. 'I think there are a few different factors here. First, there are signals that the labor market is holding up well, wages are growing faster than inflation — both of which supports the consumer in aggregate,' said Cayla Seder, macro multi-asset strategist at State Street. 'When it comes to the stock market, earnings have been beating a low bar, which has indicated the companies are holding up better than feared.' --With assistance from Shelly Banjo and Matt Turner. Burning Man Is Burning Through Cash It's Not Just Tokyo and Kyoto: Tourists Descend on Rural Japan Confessions of a Laptop Farmer: How an American Helped North Korea's Wild Remote Worker Scheme Elon Musk's Empire Is Creaking Under the Strain of Elon Musk A Rebel Army Is Building a Rare-Earth Empire on China's Border ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump deal with Europe underlines new standard of (at least) 15% tariffs
President Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a trade deal Sunday with a range of somewhat vague plans for energy purchases and open markets but one thing crystal clear: a tariff rate of 15% on European goods. It's the latest example of a new tariff floor for Trump that has been backed by other recent deals and letters, including one with Japan this past week that also saw a 15% rate. "We'll have a straight simple tariff of anywhere between 15% and 50%," Trump asserted. Both Trump and von der Leyen highlighted the 15% rate Sunday after their meeting in Scotland. Trump claimed a 'straight-across tariff of 15%' for 'automobiles and everything else,' adding that US exports to Europe would face a 0% rate. Von der Leyen confirmed the 15% tariffs 'across the board and inclusive," adding that it would bring stability and predictability to US-Europe relations. Trump added that the deal includes hundreds of billions of dollars in new EU purchases of U.S. energy as well as military equipment. The 15% rate may get a mixed reaction in Europe after negotiators had previously pushed for free trade (or more recently a 10% rate), but it's a halving from the 30% tariffs Trump promised in a letter earlier this month. Sunday's agreement with the European Union — America's largest trading partner — comes following agreements with Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia with saw tariff rates of between 19% and 20%. Only one negotiation has seen Trump agree to a tariff below 15% — a pact with the UK in May — with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent writing earlier this month, "usually the first person who makes a deal makes the best deal." Some details unclear Trump also said Sunday that many of the remaining countries facing a deadline of August 1 would face a letter dictating rates, saying they would be be 'very universal for most' and that the European deal is 'the big one.' The president said three to four additional countries could be in for deals in the the coming days while most nations would simply get letters. In any case, the 15% baseline is a shift — even from recent weeks. Trump earlier this month said that many countries would see a rate of 'probably 10% or 15%, we haven't decided yet.' Even last Sunday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CBS: "You should assume that the small countries... will have a baseline tariff of 10%." This new standard is also notable fulfillment of an oft-made campaign trail promise that saw the then-candidate pledge to create a "ring around the collar" of the US economy with a blanket rate of between 10% and 20%. Fulfilling that pledge — which was often dismissed as unrealistic at the time — has now become not only accepted but even a plus for markets after six months of Trump's second term have seen threats of higher duties that have reordered world trade actions. The recent announcement of the deal with Japan with a 15% tariff on goods like autos was welcomed by traders and helped fuel rises in US markets as well as the Japanese Nikkei 225, which immediately surged on the news. Japanese automakers in particular saw a jump after that deal as those companies celebrated a lowering of auto tariffs from 25% to 15%. European automakers now find themselves in a similar position. Trump, meanwhile, says he has no plans to amended his other sector specific tariffs as part of the European Union deal — even as Von der Leyen called the 15% tariffs 'inclusive." There are 50% tariffs currently levied on steel and aluminum (with planned duties at the same rate on copper), and Trump said Sunday that those tariffs are a "worldwide thing that stays the way it is." Trump also reiterated his promises of sectoral tariffs on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals to be rolled out, which could be much higher than 15% — unless Europe gets a carveout. Also on Sunday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that a new semiconductor tariffs are nearly ready and would be unveiled in about "two weeks time." Ben Werschkul is a Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance. Click here for political news related to business and money policies that will shape tomorrow's stock prices Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Bloomberg
11 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
The Impact of President Trump's Trade War May Be Worse Than You Think
Never miss an episode. Follow The Big Take daily podcast today. For months, the impact of President Trump's aggressive trade policy has largely felt theoretical. But with an Aug. 1 tariff extension on the horizon and a consequential week ahead for the president's broader economic agenda, the cracks are beginning to show.
