US Politics
Get your act together on immigration, Trump tells Europe as he lands in Scotland
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Illegal migration is an “invasion” that is “killing Europe”, Donald Trump claimed as he landed in Scotland on Friday.
Mr Trump is in the country for a four-day visit to both of his golf clubs in Aberdeen and Ayrshire.
The US president was greeted by thousands of people hoping to catch a glimpse of him as he landed at Glasgow Prestwick airport in Ayrshire just before 8.30pm.
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Mr Trump was met by Scottish secretary Ian Murray as he walked off Air Force One at Prestwick, before he took questions from journalists.
Asked about immigration, Mr Trump said: “You better get your act together.
“You’re not going to have Europe any more, you’ve got to get your act together.
“As you know, last month we had nobody entering our country – nobody, [we] shut it down.”
He added: “You’ve got to stop this horrible invasion that’s happening to Europe.”
Some European leaders, he continued, “have not let it happen” and are “not getting the proper credit they should”, though the president did not say who he was talking about.
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Former prime minister Liz Truss backed the US president’s comments, adding that Mr Trump is “saying what needs to be said to Europe”.
“Stop the invasion and stop the windmills,” the 49-day prime minister said on X, formerly Twitter.
Mr Trump is set to start his day at his golf club at Turnberry before heading to his second property in Aberdeenshire, where he will open a new course.
On Sunday, Mr Trump is due to meet European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to discuss trade, and on Monday, he will travel to Trump International Links Aberdeen, accompanied by Sir Keir Starmer.
The president praised Sir Keir ahead of a meeting between the two at one of his courses in the coming days, describing him as a “good man”.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
Mr Trump also suggested he would be meeting Sir Keir on Saturday evening, although it is understood the pair will not meet until Monday.
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Mr Trump told journalists there was a “good 50/50 chance” of a trade deal between the US and Europe being struck, adding that it would be the “biggest deal of them all”.
The president and Sir Keir are expected to discuss potential changes to the UK-US trade deal, which came into force last month.
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Mr Trump’s motorcade – which contained more than two-dozen vehicles – entered his Turnberry golf resort at around 9.30pm, flanked by Police Scotland vehicles and ambulance crews.
Mr Trump’s vehicle passed a small group of protesters as he arrived at his Ayrshire golf course.
Protests are planned in Scotland on Saturday against the visit. The Stop Trump Coalition is organising events in Aberdeen in the city centre and outside the US consulate in Edinburgh on Saturday at midday.
There are also expected to be protests near Turnberry and Menie, where Mr Trump is scheduled to open a new 18-hole golf course.
The new course will be named in honour of his mother, Mary Anne MacLeod Trump, who was born on the Isle of Lewis.
