Donald Trump’s business ventures in Scotland have long been a source of controversy, sparking legal battles, environmental disputes, and political clashes with the Scottish Government.
From unexplained wealth allegations to damaged ecosystems and a bitter wind farm feud, the relationship between the US president and Holyrood has been anything but harmonious.
The wind farm feud
One of Trump’s most bitter fights with the [[Scottish Government]] centred on an offshore wind farm proposed near his Aberdeenshire resort. In 2013, he launched a legal battle against plans for 11 turbines, arguing they would ruin the view from his golf course.
He then lost a legal challenge over the planned offshore wind farm when it was rejected by the UK Supreme Court.
After years of litigation, Trump finally lost his battle against wind turbines in 2019 and was ordered to pay the Scottish Government’s legal costs, though the exact sum was never disclosed.
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Trump’s opposition to wind energy is well-documented. In 2016, he reportedly urged Nigel Farage to campaign against Scottish wind farms, calling them "monstrous," "ugly," and "dangerous”. He even claimed they would "bankrupt Scotland" and destroy tourism.
Trump’s lobbying against the wind farm included a series of bizarre letters to then-First Minister Alex Salmond, released to the public in 2016. In one, Trump claimed he was trying to "save Scotland". In another, he warned that Salmond would be remembered as "Mad Alex" and that he would fail in the independence referendum if the wind farm project proceeded.
Trump alleged that Salmond and former First Minister Jack McConnell had verbally assured him no wind farm would be built near his resort.
When Salmond initially supported Trump’s golf resort plans, the future president sang a different tune, hailing him as a "great man".
Neil Hobday, the project director for Trump’s Aberdeen course and who helped broker the controversial deal for the site, claimed the Scottish Government and the country were “hoodwinked” by Trump’s promise of a £1 billion project.
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“He was willing to fight the environmental battle and create this impression that this was a $1bn project and Scotland absolutely needed it. But I think he never really had the money or the intention of finishing it,” Hobday said.
Tensions were not relieved from the windfarm debacle whatsoever once Nicola Sturgeon became First Minister, when she stripped Trump of his honorary business ambassador title in 2016 and has directed barbs towards the President ever since. When Sturgeon resigned in 2023, Trump addressed her back, stating “good riddance” to the “failed woke extremist”.
Environmental damage and stripped protections
Trump’s [[Aberdeen]]shire golf resort was built on a protected dune system at Menie Estate, a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Environmentalists warned that construction would destroy rare habitats and were proven right.
By July 2018, the Scottish Natural Heritage agency admitted that the dunes had been "partially destroyed" by construction and use of the course.
By 2020, the Scottish Government officially removed the site’s protected status, stating the damage meant the dunes "no longer merited special protection".
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The government acknowledged that Trump International had taken some conservation measures but concluded that "they no longer have sufficient scientific interest to merit special protection".
The unexplained wealth order controversy
In 2021, a U.S.-based activist group sought a judicial review after the Scottish Government refused to investigate how Trump financed his golf courses in Scotland.
The campaigners pushed for an Unexplained Wealth Order into Trump, a legal tool used to scrutinise suspiciously large cash purchases and recover assets, often dubbed a "McMafia order".
The effort followed a February 2021 vote in the Scottish Parliament, where lawmakers rejected a similar motion. Despite the petition, the highest civil court dismissed the case.
The financing behind Trump’s golf courses is an issue that is raised every time the President visits. Last visit, Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur remarked that Trump was playing “the most expensive rounds of golf in history”.
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