This article appears as part of the Unspun: Scottish Politics newsletter.
Away from a public parade of kilts and bagpipes in New York, Scottish politicians were meeting with American counterparts in Washington DC during a crucial time for strong international relations. The only issue? Our First Minister wasn’t one of them.
American and Scottish relations have not been great in the past year or so.
Last year, son of the American president and businessman Eric Trump named the First Minister “nasty” for endorsing his father’s rival Kamala Harris.
Since then, Mr Swinney has insisted he had a “very constructive” meeting with Trump junior in Bute House about investing in Scotland.
But the word “constructive” should tell you the relationship between the two is still very much a work in progress.
So when a trip to America comes along you may consider this an opportune moment for the Scottish Government to reset relations and reach out to politicians from across the pond.
But this did not happen.
During the First Minister's trip, he did not meet with the Trump administration. The most political event Mr Swinney attended was a meeting with the Council on Foreign Relations, an American think tank specialising in U.S. foreign policy.
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Asked why he made the decision to not meet with Trump officials, the FM said he did not want to interfere in trade talks between the UK and US adding such talks is a matter reserved to the UK Government.
Given the temperamental nature and past actions of a Mr Donald Trump, the First Minister raises a valid point. When he made the journey last week, tensions around the type of tariffs America would impose on the UK were and still are high.
We know now the highest of these have been paused for 90 days for all countries bar China but there is still a very real and very worrying threat of a global recession.
However, there is a fundamental flaw in this excuse from the FM.
Mr Swinney did not need to discuss tariffs if he met with political representatives.
This could have been an opportunity to build relations and make politicians aware of Scottish business and much more.
Scottish Labour, for example, held a reception during their time in Washington DC with the Congressional Friends of Scotland Caucus (or the Scotland Caucus, for short). Members of the House and Senate from both the Republicans and Democrats came along.
A Scottish Labour spokesperson told The Herald this allowed Anas Sarwar to have "a direct relationship with legislators".
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Meanwhile, the Scottish Secretary of State Ian Murray met with members of Trump’s administration such as Mark Burnett, the special envoy to the UK as well as the Democrat congressman Steve Cohen.
The First Minister, like those from UK and Scottish Labour, did meet with business leaders and engaged in events promoting "Scotland’s culture, heritage and growing influence on the global stage", according to his officials, however, meetings with politicians were lacking.
Schmoozing isn’t going to fix all the world’s issues. But it does count for something, especially during a time of great political and economic uncertainty.
The actions taken by international leaders and their administration can very easily impact Scotland. It’s important we don’t lose our seat at the global table.
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