Trump Golfs in Scotland Ahead of Key Trade Negotiations

President Trump is at his resort in Scotland where he spent the morning golfing with his son Eric ahead of important trade talks with European leaders.Wearing a white hat emblazoned with the letters USA, Mr. Trump was seen waving at press cameras that were kept at a distance.Mr. Trump is scheduled to meet with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on Sunday. The two will “discuss transatlantic trade relations, and how we can keep them strong,” Ms. von der Leyen said in an X post on Friday.Before leaving Washington on Friday, Mr. Trump said he thought the chances of reaching a new trade deal with the European Union were about 50-50.“We’re working very diligently with Europe, the EU,” Mr. Trump told reporters outside the White House before heading to Scotland. Later, he added, “I think the EU has a pretty good chance of making a deal.”The European Commission has voted to approve $109 billion in counter-tariffs if a deal isn’t reached to avert the 30 percent import tariffs that Mr. Trump says will go into effect on August 1.The European Union exports more than $600 billion in goods to the United States annually while importing about $370 billion from American companies.While America has a trade deficit in goods with the bloc, it currently has a services trade surplus. If services were included, the trade deficit would be much smaller.The United States is globally dominant in services trade due to tech giants such as Google, Meta, and Microsoft, as well its major accounting and consulting firms.Mr. Trump hinted he would meet with Prime Minister Starmer on Saturday evening but they’re not officially scheduled to meet until Monday in Aberdeen. They are expected to refine a trade deal reached between the United States and the United Kingdom last month.“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,” Mr. Trump told reporters after landing in Scotland on Friday.Mr. Trump’s appearance drew a protest by several hundred people in Edinburgh, the Scottish capital, but it was much smaller than the demonstrations that greeted Mr. Trump’s visit to his golf club during his first term in 2018.“We should not accept him here,” dual American-Scottish citizen June Osbourne complained to EuroNews, adding Mr. Trump was “the worst thing that has happened to the world, the US, in decades.”Further protests were planned in cities across Scotland by a loose collection of groups known as the “Stop Trump Coalition.”Mr. Trump is scheduled to return to the United States on Tuesday. He will be back in the United Kingdom in September for an official state visit, during which he and first lady Melania Trump will visit King Charles at Windsor Castle.

Trump Golfs in Scotland Ahead of Key Trade Negotiations

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