John Swinney insists he pushed whisky tariffs issue with Donald Trump after President appeared to rubbish the claim

Scottish Sun

2 days ago

The meeting had raised hopes Mr Trump could drop the hefty US import tariffs on Scotch whisky
WHISKY BUSINESS John Swinney insists he pushed whisky tariffs issue with Donald Trump after President appeared to rubbish the claim
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JOHN Swinney insisted he pushed the issue of whisky tariffs with President Trump just a day after the US chief appeared to rubbish the claim.
Donald Trump told reporters he and the First Minister 'did not really discuss' the issue of levies on the key export.
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The First Minister insisted he pushed the issue of whisky tariffs with President Trump
Credit: Getty
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Donald Trump told reporters he and the First Minister 'did not really discuss' the issue
Credit: Reuters
This was despite insistence from the SNP leader and senior aides that the chat had 'opened the window' to a possible exemption to punishing tariffs on the sector as part of the US/UK trade deal.
The meeting had raised hopes Mr Trump could drop the hefty US import tariffs on Scotch whisky, which is costing the industry here £4million a week.
Asked about Mr Trump's comments, Mr Swinney said: 'I've seen what President Trump said about the whisky issue and he said that we didn't talk about it much. That's different from not at all.
'So yes, we talked about it. I had a conversation with President Trump over dinner which lasted at least an hour and a quarter, maybe even longer, so we talked about a lot of things, including whisky.'
We told how Mr Trump had also made the questionable claim there was no crime in Scotland, despite evidence to the contrary.
Asked about this, Mr Swinney said: 'I think I made it clear to President Trump that we had lower crime in Scotland than we used to have but we still have crime.'
He also failed to rush to the defence of his predecessor Ms Sturgeon who the US leader had labelled 'terrible' in a slapdown on Wednesday.
Mr Swinney said: 'I am not able to determine all the things that the President says.'
The First Minister, speaking at an event with the Edinburgh International Festival on the eve of the start of the Fringe, also insisted he believed the SNP would secure a majority at the Holryood election next year.
The Nats chief had earlier set the party on a collision course with the UK Government over independence, claiming a majority would spark a second vote.
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However polling suggests the SNP could fall well short of a majority which has only ever been achieved once in 2011.
Pushed on whether this was just a trick to boost his vote knowing how unlikely it was, Mr Swinney said: 'Of course I believe in it, I wouldn't have put it forward if I didn't.'
Asked if he was 'delusional' to think he would get a majority at next year's Holyrood election, Mr Swinney insisted it is the 'reliable way' to get a second independence referendum.
He also appeared to hit out at Humza Yousaf and Ms Sturgeon for their past indy wheezes, including claiming a majority of SNP MPs or a Holyrood pro-indy majority would deliver a referendum.
The First Minister said: 'If people look at the circumstances of the last 15 years it is clear that the only moment in which there was a referendum on independence followed the election of a majority of SNP MSPs.
'Other things have been tried, if I can put it as delicately as that, and they haven't worked.'
Scottish Tory deputy leader Rachael Hamilton said: 'Scots are sick and tired of the SNP focusing on independence, when they should be cutting sky-high taxes and fixing the public services they've broken.
'But, as usual, John Swinney is more interested in appealing to diehard nationalists than delivering on the priorities of ordinary Scots.'