Former US President Donald Trump remarked “it’s great to be in Scotland” upon arrival for a four-day private visit.
Air Force One landed at Prestwick Airport shortly before 20:30, where the former president was received by Scottish Secretary Ian Murray and US Ambassador to the UK, Warren Stephens.
Trump addressed journalists before his motorcade departed for his Turnberry resort in South Ayrshire, where he is expected to play golf on Saturday.
Commenting on Sir Keir Starmer, whom he is scheduled to meet on Monday, he stated: “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.”
Trump added: “You know, they’ve been working on this deal for 12 years, he got it done – that’s a good deal, it’s a good deal for the UK.”
Earlier, the former president also described Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney as “a good man” and expressed his anticipation for their meeting.
Swinney has pledged to “essentially speak out for Scotland” during their discussion.
The motorcade, consisting of over two dozen vehicles, arrived at Trump’s Turnberry golf resort at approximately 21:30, escorted by Police Scotland vehicles and ambulance crews.
As he reached the luxury hotel, the former president’s vehicle, known as The Beast, passed a small gathering of protesters.
Trump will remain at Turnberry over the weekend before proceeding to his second property in Aberdeenshire, where he will inaugurate a new 18-hole course at Menie.
He informed reporters that the late James Bond star, Sean Connery, played a pivotal role in the project.
Trump stated: “Sean Connery helped get me the permits – if it weren’t for Sean Connery we wouldn’t have those great courses.”
Trump is scheduled to meet with Starmer and Swinney on Monday, while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen confirmed on X that she will meet the former president on Sunday to discuss transatlantic trade relations.
Trump will return to the US on Tuesday, with a further official state visit to the UK planned for September.
Several protests are anticipated to coincide with the visit, including demonstrations in Edinburgh and Aberdeen on Saturday.
A significant security operation has been in effect in South Ayrshire and Aberdeenshire this week, preceding the former president’s arrival.
Numerous officers from other UK forces have been deployed to support Police Scotland under mutual aid agreements.
Road closures and diversions are in place in Turnberry, with a security checkpoint established outside the resort and a substantial fence erected around the golf course.
Police vans have also been observed at the Menie site.
Speaking to journalists at Prestwick, Trump stated that European countries need to “get your act together” on migration, and “stop the windmills”, in reference to wind farms.
He said: “I say two things to Europe: Stop the windmills. You’re ruining your countries. I really mean it, it’s so sad.
“You fly over and you see these windmills all over the place, ruining your beautiful fields and valleys and killing your birds, and if they’re stuck in the ocean, ruining your oceans.
“Stop the windmills, and also, I mean, there’s a couple of things I could say, but on immigration, you’d better get your act together or you’re not going to have Europe anymore.”
In 2019, Trump International lost a prolonged legal battle to prevent a major wind power development in the North Sea off Aberdeen.
Trump argued that the project, encompassing 11 wind turbines, would negatively impact the view from his golf course at Menie.
Trump also asserted that illegal migration was an “invasion” that was “killing Europe”.
He said: “Last month, we (the United States) had nobody entering our country. Nobody. Shut it down. And we took out a lot of bad people that got there with (former US president Joe) Biden.
“Biden was a total stiff, and what he allowed to happen…. but you’re allowing it to happen to your countries, and you’ve got to stop this horrible invasion that’s happening to Europe; many countries in Europe.
“Some people, some leaders, have not let it happen, and they’re not getting the proper credit they should.
“I could name them to you right now, but I’m not going to embarrass the other ones.
“But stop: this immigration is killing Europe.”
When questioned about the latest developments with the Epstein files and Ghislaine Maxwell’s interview with the Department of Justice, Trump stated he had “really nothing to say about it”.
“A lot of people are asking me about pardons obviously – this is no time to be talking about pardons.”
He added that the media was “making a very big thing out of something that’s not a big thing”.
Earlier, Chancellor Rachel Reeves told reporters the US president’s visit to Scotland was in the “national interest”.
Speaking during a visit to the Rolls-Royce factory, near Glasgow Airport, she said: “The work that our Prime Minister Keir Starmer has done in building that relationship with President Trump has meant that we were the first country in the world to secure a trade deal.”
Reeves added that it had a “tangible benefit” for people in Scotland, from the Scotch whisky industry to the defence sector.”
Swinney said his meeting with Trump would present an opportunity to “essentially speak out for Scotland” on issues such as trade and the increase of business from the United States in Scotland.
The first minister said he would also raise “significant international issues” including “the awfulness of the situation in Gaza”.
And he urged those set to protest against the president’s visit to do so “peacefully and to do so within the law”.
Visits to Scotland by sitting US presidents are rare.
Queen Elizabeth hosted Dwight D Eisenhower at Balmoral in Aberdeenshire in 1957.
George W Bush travelled to Gleneagles in Perthshire for a G8 summit in 2005 and Joe Biden attended a climate conference in Glasgow in 2021.
The only other serving president to visit this century is Trump himself in 2018 when he was met by protesters including one flying a paraglider low over Turnberry, breaching the air exclusion zone around the resort.
He returned in 2023, two-and-a-half years after he was defeated by Biden.
Trump does have a genuine link to Scotland.
His Gaelic-speaking mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, was born in 1912 on the island of Lewis in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides and left during the Great Depression for New York where she married property developer Fred Trump.
Their son’s return to Scotland for four days this summer comes ahead of an official state visit from 17-19 September when the president and First Lady Melania Trump will be hosted by King Charles at Windsor Castle in Berkshire.
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