“It might be through gritted teeth, but the King and the UK and Scottish Governments have done the right thing in prioritising jobs in their dealings with Trump.”
04:30, 02 May 2026Updated 08:26, 02 May 2026
John Swinney with a glass of whisky(Image: PA)
Whisky is Scotland’s gift to the world and, more importantly, sustains 40,000 jobs. So it’s welcome news that Donald Trump has agreed to lift US tariffs on whisky exported across the Atlantic.
America is by far the most valuable foreign market for distillers and the extra taxes previously announced by the Republican leader were hammering revenues.
So credit must go to the King for using all his charm on the President and convincing him to drop the whisky tariffs. It was the royal couple who Trump mentioned personally when he announced the end of tariffs.
Perhaps the increased revenues from more whisky sales will even help pay for the maintenance of the many royal households that UK taxpayers keep going.
John Swinney too deserves praise after raising the issue of tariffs and their negative impact with the President. Trump has few fans in Scotland but the reality is he runs the world’s largest economy.
We can’t afford to shut the door on the US, whether we agree with Trump and his many costly military interventions or not.
Swinney played to Trump’s vanity with some thoughtful gifts on the occasions they’ve met, like the tasteful framed family parchment uncovered from the Scottish archives.
And he even received a “congratulations John” note from the US President yesterday after the tariffs decision was made.
It might be through gritted teeth, but the King and the UK and Scottish Governments have done the right thing in prioritising jobs in their dealings with Trump.
Diplomacy takes many forms and in this instance, it has paid off.
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The Daily Record reveals today that the bill to house homeless people in Glasgow B&Bs has trebled to almost £70million. That won’t come as a surprise to readers who have followed our stories on the growing problem of asylum seekers coming to the city to seek housing.
Glasgow’s leaders are right to demand extra support from the Home Office to deal with this rising number of applicants. And it is up to governments in Edinburgh and London to come up with a workable solution.
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Our political leaders need to wake up to the problem or it will simply fuel the grievance politics of charlatans like Nigel Farage.
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