The Japan Times - Tight security as Trump heads to Scotland for diplomacy and golf

The president, whose mother was born in Scotland, is expected to split his time between two seaside golf courses bearing his name, in southwestern coastal Turnberry and Aberdeen in the northeast.

Air Force One carrying the president and White House staff was due to arrive around at 8:20 pm local time (1920 GMT) and Trump has no public events scheduled for Saturday or Sunday, the White House said.

Police Scotland, who are bracing for mass protests in Edinburgh and Aberdeen as well as close to his golf courses, said there will be a "significant operation across the country over many days".

An avid golfer, Trump is expected to tear himself away from the greens to meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at some point, but details of that meeting have not been released.

Starmer is not reputed to be as passionate about golf as the 79-year-old Republican, and may have other concerns to tee off on.

The US and the UK announced a trade agreement in May, but London is worried about Trump's stated intention to "refine" the deal.

The British leader, who has dodged the exorbitant import/export tariffs other countries have been saddled with, will aim to stay in the good graces of the unpredictable American leader.

The international outcry over the conflict in Gaza may also be on the agenda, amid growing pressure on Starmer to follow French President Emmanuel Macron and announce the UK will also recognise a State of Palestine.

- Protests -

Trump is expected to return to the UK in September for a state visit -- his second -- at the invitation of King Charles III, which promises to be lavish.

During a 2023 visit, Trump said he felt at home in Scotland, where his mother Mary Anne MacLeod grew up on the remote Isle of Lewis before emigrating to the United States at age 18.

The affection is not necessarily mutual in Scotland.

Residents, environmentalists and elected officials have also voiced discontent over the Trump family's construction of a new golf course, which he is expected to open before he heads back to the UK on Tuesday.

Scotland's leader, First Minister John Swinney, said the country "shares a strong friendship with the United States that goes back centuries".

He said he would meet with Trump during the visit and said the US leader's trip provided Scotland with a "platform to make its voice heard on the issues that matter, including war and peace, justice and democracy".

Trump has also stepped into the sensitive debate in the UK about green energy and reaching net zero, with Aberdeen being the heart of Scotland's oil industry.

He said the UK should "stop with the costly and unsightly windmills, and incentivise modernised drilling in the North Sea, where large amounts of oil lay waiting to be taken".

"A century of drilling left, with Aberdeen as the hub," the president wrote on his Truth Social platform about Europe's oil and gas hub.

- US discontent -

The trip to Scotland puts physical distance between Trump and the latest twists in the case of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the wealthy financier accused of sex trafficking who died in prison in 2019 before facing trial.

In his heyday, Epstein was friends with Trump and others in the New York jet-set, but the president is now facing backlash from his own MAGA supporters who demand access to the Epstein case files.

Many support a conspiracy theory under which "deep state" elites protected rich and famous people who took part in an Epstein sex ring. But Trump is urging his supporters to move on and drop the case.

The Wall Street Journal, which published an article detailing longstanding links between Trump and the sex offender, is being punished by the White House.

Its reporting staff plans to travel to Scotland on its own and join the White House press pool. But it has now been denied a seat on Air Force One for the flight back home.

While Trump's family has undertaken many development projects worldwide, the president no longer legally controls the family holdings.

But opponents and watchdog groups have accused him of many conflicts of interest and using his position as US president to promote private family investments, especially abroad.

The American NGO Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said in May that 21 development projects were already underway abroad during Trump's second term.

T.Shimizu--JT