Europe “better get [its] act together” on immigration, US President Donald Trump said as he landed in Scotland on Friday evening.
Speaking to reporters after disembarking from Air Force One, Trump said: “On immigration, you better get your act together or you’re not going to have Europe anymore.”
Immigration, he claimed, was an “invasion” that was “killing Europe.”
Trip mixes golf and meetings
During his five-day visit, Trump will play golf at two golf resorts he owns — one in the small village of Turnberry in South Ayrshire on Scotland’s southwest coast and the other in Menie in Aberdeenshire.
In Menie, Trump is set to open a new golf course dedicated to his Scottish-born mother.
The US president will also meet with leaders during his first trip to the United Kingdom since his reelection.
While many US media outlets are describing Trump’s visit to Scotland as a private visit, a White House spokesperson called it a “working trip” ahead of the president’s departure.
Spokesperson Taylor Rogers also 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.
“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,” Jordan Libowitz from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, an ethics watchdog organization, told The Associated Press news agency.
“It’s as if the White House were almost an arm of the Trump Organization,” he added.
Trump’s trip will cost US taxpayers at least $10 million (€8.5 million), according to an analysis by the HuffPost, a progressive US news website.
Pointing out that the trip is unrelated to a planned state visit to the UK in September, the HuffPost called Trump’s Scotland visit “by far the most expensive golf vacation to date in either of his terms.”
Trump to talk trade with UK, EU leaders
The president praised British Prime Minister Keir Starmer ahead of a meeting between the two in Turnberry, describing him as a “good man.”
“I like your prime minister, he’s slightly more liberal than I am … but he’s a good man. He got a trade deal done,” he told reporters, referring to a preliminary US-UK trade agreement signed in May.
During his trip, which lasts until Tuesday, Trump is also to meet with Scottish First Minister John Swinney and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Von der Leyen confirmed she will come to Scotland to meet with Trump on Sunday in a bid to hash out a trade deal between the United States and the European Union.
Trump told journalists there was a “good 50/50 chance” of a deal being struck, adding that it would be the “biggest deal of them all.”
Trump claims wind power ‘killing beauty’
Trump also took the chance on Friday to criticize renewable wind power.
“Stop the windmills,” he said on his arrival in Scotland, claiming they are “killing the beauty of your country.”
Trump has spent years railing against windmills.
He once unsuccessfully tried to sue to stop the building of wind turbines in Scotland by arguing that an offshore wind farm would mar the view of people playing golf at his Menie course.
More than half of Scotland’s electricity is currently generated by wind power.
Protests planned for Trump’s visit
The UK’s The Independent newspaper reported that Trump’s motorcade passed a small group of protesters as he arrived at his golf course in Turnberry.
Campaign groups have planned what they call a “festival of resistance” against Trump’s visit in several Scottish cities.
Trump is generally unpopular in Scotland. A poll by the IPSOS market research company published in March found more than 70% of Scots have an unfavorable opinion of the US president.
Edited by: Sean Sinico
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