NICOLA Sturgeon has urged Americans not to re-elect Donald Trump “at any point”.

The First Minister said the former President was the type of populist “strongman” who threatened the planet by not taking action against climate change.

In contrast, she described President Joe Biden’s administration as visibly and tangibly  “constructive” on climate change.

President Trump, who has hinted at standing for re-election in 2024, was a vocal supporter of fossil fuel extraction in the US, including oil drilling, coal mining and fracking.

Ms Sturgeon, who supported Hillary Clinton when she ran against Mr Trump in 2016, made the comments on the first leg of a two-day visit to the United States.

In a Q&A after a speech at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC about “Scotland and the future of European energy security”, she was asked which policies the United States can adopt to better assist European energy security.

Ms Sturgeon replied: “Don’t re-elect Trump at any point.”

She said that was “too light hearted an answer” but then heaped praise on the attitude of President Biden’s administration at last year’s COP26 Climate conference in Glasgow.

She said: “It was visible and tangible, the difference that constructive American leadership made to getting the outcome that we achieved in Glasgow.

“It wasn't everything everybody wanted to see, but it was positive, and the US government, [US climate envoy] John Kerry in particular, played a vital role in that.

“So continue to be that leader [in] these global conversations that we really need the United States to be would be my first plea. 

“And then, you know, be part of the discussions as the United States says, about how we make these transitions. 

“I think there is a lot to learn in both directions from how we don't repeat the mistakes of the past and other economic upheavals and transitions. 

“So there's lots we can learn from each other, but keeping the United States in that position of constructive leadership, I think, is one of the key things that I would certainly like to see.”

She also said an independent Scotland's membership of Nato would be a "cornerstone" of the country's security policy, even though  her current Green partners in government oppose Nato membership.

She said: "I am firm in my view that - coupled with a strong relationship with the UK - membership of the EU and of NATO will be cornerstones of an independent Scotland’s security policy.

"The Scottish Government is acutely aware of Scotland’s strategic position on the northern edge of Europe, close to the Arctic.  

"Russian military aircraft regularly approach the UK’s area of interest, and in recent years there has been an increase in Russian submarine patrols within the North Atlantic.  

"And so we are clearer than ever that membership of NATO would not only be vital to Scotland’s security - though it most definitely would be - it would also be the principal way in which an independent Scotland, in an interdependent world, would contribute to the collective security of our neighbours and allies."

Earlier in her speech, Ms Sturgeon stressed the importance of helping communities reliant on jobs in the fossil fuel industry make the transition to the renewable energy sector. 

She said that if the change was mishandled, it could scar communities and lead to angry voters turning to populist politicians who could exacerbate the climate crisis.

She  said: “Certainly, one of the reasons for the wave of populism we’ve seen in many countries in the developed world - including the UK and the USA - is the sense that people have been left behind, that they’ve been ignored and disregarded by their governments. 

“That sense has its roots in the economic changes of the 1980s, and it was undoubtedly compounded by the impacts of the 2008 financial crash.

“So if the move to net zero turns out to be yet another economic upheaval that is done to people and communities rather than done with and for them; if people don’t have the chance to influence the changes they see in their lives; and if they cannot see and feel any benefit from those changes; then there is a real danger that communities will feel abandoned again, that faith in politics will be further undermined, and more countries will become susceptible to the populism of strongmen leaders.

“That would be disastrous for our environment, detrimental for our, in some places, already fragile democracies, and deeply dangerous for our national and international security.” 

Ms Sturgeon also said Scotland could use its off-shore wind power to generate hydrogen and to become the most reliable and cheapest producer of green hydrogen in Europe.

She said Scotland had the capacity to create 5GW of hydrogen by 2030, or a seventh of  current total energy demand, but 25GW by 2045, allowing it to export most of it. 

Tory MSP Donald Cameron said Ms Sturgeon "betrayed her naivety, and the SNP’s weakness, on international security" in the speech.

“She was keen to talk up how an independent Scotland would help the collective security of the West, yet conveniently forgot to mention that her party is committed to removing the UK’s nuclear deterrent.

“She also failed to address how her mission to break up the UK would help western security because, as she well knows, that’s something the UK’s enemies would relish.

“And then there’s the biggest elephant in the room: the fact that her self-serving push for another divisive independence referendum is opposed by the majority of Scots.

“They want the First Minister to focus on the cost-of-living crisis and sorting out her government’s failures on health, education, drugs deaths and the ferries fiasco, rather than gallivanting across the Atlantic selling half-baked plans for separation.”