The First Minister met with the Republican leader in the Oval Office for around 50 minutes on Tuesday where the future of the Scotch Whisky industry was discussed.
John Swinney used a meeting at the White House to warn Donald Trump that tariffs on Scotch whisky are costing jobs in the birthplace of the President’s mother.
The First Minister met with the Republican leader in the Oval Office for around 50 minutes on Tuesday where he spelled out the challenges facing Scotland’s national drink.
And the SNP leader used the example of the Isle of Harris Distillery which has shed jobs in recent months amid a wider downturn in the whisky industry’s profitability.
The distillery, one of the largest private employers in the Western Isles, is based just 40 miles from Tong, the village where Trump’s mother Mary Anne MacLeod was born in 1912.
Swinney is lobbying for the current 10 per cent tariffs slapped on Scotch exports to the US to be reduced or removed on the basis that it would benefit both Scottish and US distillers.
And the SNP leader told reporters yesterday he had spelled out the economic downsides of the current levy remaining in place.
Asked how his meeting with the President had gone, Swinney said: “I was supposed to be in the Oval Office for 30 minutes, but I was in for 50. That perhaps gives you an illustration that we were having a very engaged, substantive discussion about this.
“He was asking me a lot of questions about the proposition, he was very familiar with the issue I was raising and the impact on jobs in the US.
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“I was explaining to him the challenges that the Isle of Harris Distillery has faced, where there has been employment loss. It’s a really dynamic distillery with a marvellous product. And it’s the largest employer on Harris, but losing jobs because of difficult market conditions.”
Swinney continued: “When I met President Trump in the summer, he asked he many, many questions about the Western Isles – he’s fascinated about what is going on there these days.
“I cited the Isle of Harris Distillery as an example of good development, good economic opportunity, and providing new possibilities for young people on the island. He’s really interested in that.
“But the consequence of tariffs is that opportunity is more difficult. And I think President Trump took that argument very seriously.”
The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) has said that the tariffs cost the industry about £4m a week and that their US counterparts are worried about the impact on their sales of bourbon barrels to Scotland.
Swinney’s meeting in Washington came a week before Trump arrives in the UK for a formal state visit. The event is expected to coincide with the announcement of further details of the UK-US trade deal.
The First Minister said: “That means we are in the critical days when decisions will be made and deals finalised. And those decisions will affect jobs, growth and prosperity here in Scotland and across the United Kingdom.
“The negotiations are, of course, being conducted by the United Kingdom Government. But Scotland has significant interests, not least in the whisky industry.”
Swinney added: “I did not go to negotiate. That is for the UK Government to do. And we certainly were not going armed with just special pleading and sentiment.
“No, we went to make the case to America that there was a deal possible that was better for Scotland and, crucially, better for the United States too. A win-win.”
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