DONALD TRUMP is the new comeback kid. The Lazarus of Mar-a-Lago.
The 47th President-elect of the United States of America (US) is set to be sworn in on Monday, 20 January 2025.
He’s only the second person to win two non-consecutive presidential terms since Grover Cleveland in 1884 and 1892.
Trump will be oldest person ever to be elected as US president – 78 and a half years of age - five months older than when Biden took office in January 2021.
It’s been a long time since younger presidents. John F. Kennedy took office in 1961 at the age of 43.
Theodore Roosevelt assumed the presidency when 42 years old in 1901 following the assassination of President McKinlay.
What happens in the US matters to us in Scotland and the UK.
Besides global politics and defence, there is the bread and butter issue of the economy.
In the year to June 2023, the US was Scotland’s second top export destination, accounting for 11% of our goods exports at 3.9bn.
Most of our exports include food, beverages – whisky being a strategic export - along with engineering, manufacturing, financial services, technology, digital, media and energy.
The top Scottish export destination – after the rest of the UK – was the Netherlands which accounted for 19% of all exports. This is ostensibly North Sea oil exports.
US companies account for 25% of the total foreign investment in Scotland.
More than 650 US-owned businesses employ around 115,000 people in Scotland.
Scotland and the US are top global collaborators when it comes to research.
Sixteen of Scotland’s Higher Education institutions have 82 unique links with US counterparts.
I’ve highlighted these important links to the US to pose two burning questions.
First, what on earth was John Swinney MSP playing at when he publicly endorsed Kamala Harris?
Why would the leader of a devolved Scottish Government meddle in American politics?
Given the economic importance of the US to Scotland, why would a Scottish First Minister (FM) jeopardise our trade and investment by being politically partisan in foreign affairs that had nothing to do with him?
The answer is to be found in the incessant virtue signalling that now characterises Holyrood.
Interestingly, ideological politicking was the downfall for Kamala Harris and the Democrats. Trump won because more people were concerned about their pay, food prices and the cost of living.
Last week Scottish Green MSP, Patrick Harvie lambasted John Swinney for congratulating Trump on his win – yet Swinney was doing his duty as FM in respecting the US democratic process and ensuring Scotland’s relationship with the US prospers.
While Mr Harvie doesn’t have to worry about bills with his gold-plated MSP public salary, expenses and perks, consider the hundreds of thousands of Scots who rely on a good relations with the US to put food on their tables.
The “America First” trade policy, that President-elect Trump has said he’ll introduce, could put 20% tariffs on UK exports to the US – which would lose us £22bn in trade or shrink our economy by 0.7%.
The Scottish whisky industry remembers when he put a 25% tariff on malt whisky.
We’ve the possibility of cutting an exemption deal on US tariffs but this will require political grown-ups in the room and not attention seekers virtue signalling from beneath their comfort blankets.
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