Trump plays golf in Scotland while protesters take to the streets and decry his visit
Trump and his son Eric played with the U.S. ambassador to Britain, Warren Stephens, near Turnberry, a historic course that the Trump family's company took over in 2008. Hundreds of protesters gathered on the cobblestone and tree-lined street in front of the U.S. Consulate about 100 miles (160 kilometers) away in Edinburgh, Scotland's capital.
Speakers on a makeshift stage told the crowd that Trump was not welcome and they criticized British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for striking a recent trade deal to avoid stiff U.S. tariffs on goods imported from the U.K.
Protests were planned in other cities as environmental activists, opponents of Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza and pro-Ukraine groups loosely formed a 'Stop Trump Coalition."
'I think there are far too many countries that are feeling the pressure of Trump and that they feel that they have to accept him and we should not accept him here,' said June Osbourne, 52, a photographer and photo historian from Edinburgh who protested wearing a red cloak and white hood, recalling "The Handmaid's Tale." Osbourne held up picture of Trump with 'Resist' stamped over his face.
The dual-U.S.-British citizen said the Republican president was "the worst thing that has happened to the world, the U.S., in decades.'
Saturday's protests were not nearly as large as the throngs that came out across Scotland when Trump played at the resort during his first term in 2018.
But bagpipes played, people chanted 'Trump Out!' and raised homemade signs that said 'No red carpet for dictators," 'We don't want you here' and 'Stop Trump. Migrants welcome.'
One dog had a sign that said 'No treats for tyrants.'
Some on the far right took to social media to call for gatherings supporting Trump in places such as Glasgow. Upon arriving in Scotland on Friday night, Trump admonished European leaders for not cracking down on immigration. 'This immigration is killing Europe," he said.
'You better get your act together,' Trump said. 'You're not going to have Europe anymore.'
While in Scotland, Trump is set to talk trade with Starmer and Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president. But golf is a major focus.
The Trumps will also visit another Trump course, in the Aberdeen area in northeastern Scotland. They plan to cut a ribbon on Tuesday, opening the second Trump course.
The president has long lobbied for Turnberry to host the British Open, which it has not done since he took over ownership.
'There's no place like it,' he said Friday night.
___
This story has been corrected to reflect that the citizenship status for June Osbourne is U.S.-British, not U.S.-Scottish.
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CNN
10 minutes ago
- CNN
Trump wants to talk business with Africa in hopes of countering China. But a US summit excluded Africa's big players
The White House hosted an 'African leaders' summit of sorts this week. But only five countries from the continent of more than 50 nations were welcome to join. US President Donald Trump hosted a working lunch in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, bringing together the presidents of Mauritania, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Senegal, and Gabon for a discussion focused on 'commercial opportunities,' a White House official told CNN. 'This discussion and lunch dialog with African heads of state was arranged because President Trump believes that African countries offer incredible commercial opportunities which benefit both the American people and our African partners,' the White House official said. The multilateral lunch is scheduled for noon in the State Dining Room of the White House. Going into the meeting, Liberia said that the 'high-level summit' intends 'to deepen diplomatic ties, advance shared economic goals, and enhance security cooperation' between Washington and 'select African nations.' 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This is not the first time Trump has hosted a small group of African leaders in the US, deviating from the approach of Barack Obama and Joe Biden, who hosted fuller gatherings of African heads of government while in the White House. During his first term in office — viewed by some as 'dismissive toward Africa' — Trump hosted a 'working lunch' in 2017 with nine African heads of state, whom he described as 'partners for promoting prosperity and peace on a range of economic, humanitarian, and security issues.' 'Africa has tremendous business potential,' Trump said in that meeting, which included the leaders of Nigeria, Ethiopia, and South Africa. Now in his second term, Trump has kept an eye on Africa's mineral wealth, with the US keen to challenge China's access to critical minerals in the region. However, he advocates a transactional policy that swaps charity for strategic US investment. 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The Trump administration had previously canceled more than 80% of programs at USAID and has imposed 'reciprocal' tariffs on several countries, including many in Africa which Trump said had trade deficits with the US. South Africa has described the 'reciprocal' tariff which is due to take effect on August 1 as not based on 'an accurate representation of available trade data.' Trump has also banned travel for 12 mostly African and Middle Eastern nations – citing security risks – amid an aggressive clampdown on immigration by his administration. A mooted expansion of the travel restrictions would halt travel to the US for swathes of West Africa, if implemented. China, meanwhile, is softening the impact of US tariffs on Africa, announcing last month it would halt charges on imports for nearly all its African partners, except Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) which is friendly toward Taiwan — which China's ruling Communist Party claims as its own, despite never having controlled it. Although small economies, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, Senegal and Liberia are rich in mineral resources including oil and gas, gold, iron ore, and rare earth elements. At the White House meeting, Gabon's President Brice Oligui Nguema underscored the mineral wealth of their countries and encouraged the US to partner with them to develop their resources. 'We are not poor countries. We are rich countries when it comes to raw materials. But we need partners to support us and help us develop those resources with win-win partnerships,' he said. Nguema also pushed Trump to purchase from Gabon rather than through companies. 'I'm sure that it's more expensive compared to when you can come and buy directly from us,' he said. Discussions at the Trump-hosted summit extended beyond commerce. Nguema addressed his country's efforts to curb piracy in the Gulf of Guinea. 'We can't do it alone. We need a reliable and strong partner that is committed and that takes real action,' he added. The West and Central African nations are also a common departure point for would-be migrants to the US. 'There may be other stakes: migratory trends from West Africa to Nicaragua and then the US,' as well as 'security, as all of those (five) countries have an opening on the Atlantic Ocean,' Ousmane Sene, who heads the Senegal-based research organization, the West African Research Center (WARC), told CNN. Last year, the New York Times reported, citing government data, that the US was seeing an increasing number of African migrants at its southern border — rising from just over 13,000 in 2022 to 58,462 in 2023. Nationals from Mauritania and Senegal were top of the list, the report said. For Dakar-based journalist and political analyst Mamadou Thior, who covered the first US–Africa Leaders' Summit hosted by Obama in 2014, the leaders of the five African nations must 'be as clever as Donald Trump' in talks with the White House. 'Trump is a businessman. So only the interests of America interest him,' Thior said. 'The USAID, which was a key partner for countries like Senegal, no longer exists. It's up to them to talk to Trump, to see what new cooperation they can put forward.' In Isike's view, 'this meeting is going to inaugurate a new US diplomatic model — one that is transactionally tied to economic reform (and) trade outcomes for the US.' Nonetheless, the five African nations 'can expect to leverage private sector partnerships, investment, infrastructural development, and security cooperation with the US,' he said. These nations are not new to high-stakes relations with global powers. They have each been courted by China, which has boosted trade volumes between them and funded infrastructure in Gabon and Senegal. When Guinea-Bissau President Umaro Sissoco Embaló met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing in September, the former had kind words for the host nation. 'For Africa,' Embaló said, according to a statement by Chinese foreign ministry, 'China represents the future and is a brother.' 'Guinea-Bissau is willing to be a trustworthy friend and partner of China,' he added. Last month, Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko was also full of praise for China, thanking it for awarding dozens 'of preparation scholarships' to his nation's athletes and coaches ahead of next year's Summer Youth Olympics. In the same statement, Sonko expressed frustration with the US decision to deny visas to 'several members of the Senegal women's national basketball team' — a leading force in African women's basketball — forcing them to cancel a training camp they had scheduled in the US. With a wider African leaders' summit mooted by the White House for later in the year, Trump has made one thing clear, according to Isike: an urgent shift 'from traditional aid to strategic commerce-driven engagement.' However, the shift is 'a high-stakes gamble that aligns with America's goal to reset its influence in Africa through investment but also to counter China and foster economically self-reliant African partners,' Isike added. 'Enabling Africa to be self-reliant is not because he (Trump) loves Africa, but because he doesn't have patience with countries that only want handouts from the US,' Isike said, adding that 'these trade deals and the meeting (this week) aligns with the US' priority to favor countries that are able to help themselves.' CNN's Alejandra Jaramillo contributed to this report.
Yahoo
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Yahoo
28 minutes ago
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Residents concerned over new housing updated on any plans
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