Donald Trump to meet Keir Starmer in ‘oil capital’ Aberdeen

Donald Trump has said he will meet with Keir Starmer in Aberdeen later this month.   

The US president described the city as “Europe’s oil capital” but said it should “get rid of the windmills”.  

The Scottish Government has also confirmed that Trump will meet with First Minister John Swinney during the private trip, which comes ahead of his state visit in September.  

In an interview with the BBC, Trump said: “We're going to have a meeting with... a state meeting with the prime minister, and that's going to be up in Aberdeen, which is the oil capital of Europe, they should bring it back too.   

“They have so much oil there. They should get rid of the windmills and bring back the oil.   

“[Because] the windmills are really detrimental to the beauty of Scotland and every other place they go up.”  

Trump, whose mother was born on the Isle of Lewis, has spoken about his affection for Scotland. However, his last presidential visit in 2018 was met with large protests in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Aberdeen.   

Trump has long opposed the development of wind farms in Scotland. In 2012, he appeared before a Scottish Parliament inquiry to argue that the Scottish Government's policy of promoting wind farms was misguided.  

In 2015, Trump's legal challenge to a planned offshore wind farm near Aberdeen, which included 11 wind turbines, was rejected by the UK Supreme Court. Then in 2019, it was ruled that Trump International Golf Club Scotland Ltd should pay the Scottish Government’s legal bills incurred.  

He argued the development would negatively impact the view from his golf course at Menie, in Aberdeenshire.