First Minister John Swinney has met President Donald Trump in the Oval Office to discuss whisky tariffs.
Mr Swinney is in the United States to undertake a series of trade and political meetings involving both main US political parties.
In a video posted to X, he confirmed he had met Trump and discussed whisky tariffs, in particular, the possibility of no tariffs on Scotch whisky.
He said: “I wanted to share an update on my visit to Washington, DC. I spent the morning with representatives of the whisky industry from Scotland and the United States and we discussed the zero-for-zero approach on tariffs, which would help the industry to flourish on both sides of the pond.
“I’ve now taken those arguments to the Oval Office to President Trump, and we’ve had a constructive discussion about the reasons why Scotch whisky would benefit from no tariffs.
“It’s all part of my job to make sure that Scotland’s interests are promoted at all times, and that’s what I’ll always do as First Minister.”
The meeting at the White House was scheduled to last around 30 minutes and took place at 7pm UK time.
Prior to the meeting at the White House, the First Minister met representatives and member companies of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (Discus) and the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) at Mount Vernon, the home of US founding father George Washington and the site of a whisky distillery he opened in 1798 which was operated by his Scottish farm hand, James Anderson.
The First Minister flew to Washington DC on Tuesday, saying he would be “pressing the case” for a better tariff deal for Scotch whisky in key talks in the United States.
