As Trump shows off his golf courses for Britain's leader, crisis in Gaza
looms
[July 28, 2025]
By WILL WEISSERT
EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — President Donald Trump once suggested his
golf course in Scotland “furthers" the U.S.-U.K. relationship. Now he's
getting the chance to prove it.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is meeting Monday with Trump at a
golf property owned by the president's family near Turnberry in
southwestern Scotland — then later traveling to Abderdeen, on the
country's northeast coast, where there's another Trump golf course and a
third is opening soon.
During his first term in 2019, Trump posted of his Turnberry property,
“Very proud of perhaps the greatest golf course anywhere in the world.
Also, furthers U.K. relationship!” Starmer is not a golfer, but toggling
between Trump's Scottish courses shows the outsized influence the
president puts on properties bearing his name — and on golf's ability to
shape geopolitics.
However, even as Trump may want to focus on showing off his golf
properties, Starmer will try to center the conversation on more urgent
global matters. He plans to urge Trump to press Israel to allow more aid
into Gaza and attempt to end what Downing St. called “the unspeakable
suffering and starvation” in the territory, while pushing for a
ceasefire in Israel’s war with Hamas.
Britain, along with France and Germany, has criticized Israel for
“withholding essential humanitarian assistance” as hunger spread in
Gaza. Over the weekend, Starmer said Britain will take part in efforts
led by Jordan to airdrop aid after Israel temporarily eased
restrictions.
But British Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds acknowledged Monday
that only the U.S. has “the leverage” to make a real difference in the
conflict.
Still, asked about the crisis in Gaza on Sunday night, Trump was largely
dismissive — focused more on how he’s not personally gotten credit for
previous attempts to provide food aid.
“It’s terrible. You really at least want to have somebody say, ‘Thank
you,’” Trump said.
The president added, “It makes you feel a little bad when you do that"
without what he considered proper acknowledgement.
Starmer is under pressure from his Labour Party lawmakers to follow
France in recognizing a Palestinian state, a move both Israel and the
U.S. have condemned. The British leader says the U.K. supports statehood
for the Palestinians but that it must be “part of a wider plan” for a
two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
Also on Monday's agenda, according to Starmer’s office, are efforts to
promote a possible peace deal to end fighting in Russia’s war with
Ukraine — particularly efforts at forcing Russian President Vladimir
Putin to the negotiating table in the next 50 days.
Trump in the past sharply criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelenskyy for also failing to express enough public gratitude toward
U.S. support for his country, taking a similar tack he's now adopting
when it comes to aid for Gaza. The president, though, has shifted away
from that tone and more sharply criticized Putin and Russia in recent
weeks.
On Tuesday, Trump will be at the site of his new course near Aberdeen
for an official ribbon-cutting. It opens to the public on Aug. 13 and
tee times are already for sale — with the course betting that a
presidential visit can help boost sales.
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Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer is reflected in a mirror
during a business showcase event whilst meeting Prime Minister
Narendra Modi of India at Chequers near Aylesbury, England,
Thursday, July 24, 2025.(AP Photo/Kin Cheung, Pool)
Protesters have planned a demonstration in Balmedie, near Trump’s
existing Aberdeen golf course, after demonstrators took to the
streets across Scotland on Saturday to decry the president’s visit
while he was golfing.
Starmer and Trump are likely to find more common ground on trade
issues.
While China initially responded to Trump’s tariff threats by
retaliating with high import taxes of its own on U.S. goods, it has
since begun negotiating to ease trade tensions. Starmer and his
country have taken a far softer approach. He's gone out of his way
to work with Trump, flattering the president repeatedly during a
February visit to the White House, and teaming up to announce a
joint trade framework on tariffs for some key products in May.
Starmer and Trump then signed a trade agreement during the G7 summit
in Canada that freed the U.K.'s aerospace sector from U.S. tariffs
and used quotas to reduce them on auto-related industries from 25%
to 10% while increasing the amount of U.S. beef it pledged to
import.
Discussions with Starmer follow a Trump meeting Sunday with European
Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen at his Turnberry course. They
announced a trade framework that will put 15% tariffs on most goods
from both countries, though many major details remain pending.
The president has for months railed against yawning U.S. trade
deficits around the globe and sees tariffs as a way to try and close
them in a hurry. But the U.S. ran an $11.4 billion trade surplus
with Britain last year, meaning it exported more to the U.K. than it
imported. Census Bureau figures this year indicate that the surplus
could grow.
There are still lingering U.S.-Britain trade issues that need
fine-tuning. The deal framework from May said British steel would
enter the U.S. duty-free, but it continues to face a 25% levy.
U.K. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said Monday that
“negotiations have been going on on a daily basis” and “there’s a
few issues to push a little bit further today,” though he downplayed
expectations of a resolution.
The leader of Scotland, meanwhile, said he will urge Trump to lift
the current 10% tariff on Scotch whisky. First Minister John Swinney
said the spirit’s “uniqueness” justified an exemption.
Even as some trade details linger and both leaders grapple with
increasingly difficult choices in Gaza and Ukraine, however,
Starmer's staying on Trump's good side appears to be working — at
least so far.
“The U.K. is very well-protected. You know why? Because I like them
— that’s their ultimate protection,” Trump said during the G7.
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Associated Press writer Jill Lawless in London contributed to this
report.
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