Despite his 'love' of Scotland, damage caused by Donald Trump's tariffs show he's no true friend

Leading economic think tanks cites Donald Trump’s tariffs as one reason for Scotland’s anaemic growth

When, on what he called ‘Liberation Day’ earlier this year, Donald Trump unveiled his board of eye-watering tariffs on countries around the world, it had something of the air of an amateurish, comedy gameshow. However, his accompanying claim that this unprecedented economic assault on long-standing American allies was justified because they had “looted, pillaged, raped and plundered” the US for years underlined, in distasteful terms, just how serious he was.

Despite our ‘Special Relationship’, the UK was not spared, subjected to a 10 per cent general tariff and 25 per cent on steel and aluminium, which could double to 50 per cent if a deal is not reached by the deadline next week, when Trump’s temporary tariff ‘pause’ is due to end.

Since then, the US has collected an extra $80 billion in extra taxes from the US firms who pay the tariffs, according to NBC News, although it noted this “pales beside the multi-trillion-dollar gyration markets have undergone in that time”. For example, the Liberation Day announcement was swiftly followed by the loss of $5 trillion in value from the S&P 500 stock market index.

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Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs on imports from many countries on what he called 'Liberation Day' in April (Picture: Chip Somodevilla) | Getty Images

Faltering growth

Scotland is far from immune from all this economic turmoil, with a new report by the Fraser of Allander Institute saying the slowdown in this country’s economic growth was “largely due to higher global uncertainty, particularly from the announcement of tariffs in the US and elsewhere”.

Institute director Professor Mairi Spowage said: "After a strong start to the year, the Scottish economy has faltered in March and April and is essentially the same size in real terms as it was six months ago.” The think tank now expects Scotland’s economy to grow by just 0.8 per cent this year and 1 per cent next year.

There are, of course, other reasons for our troubles. However – despite Trump’s oleaginous remarks about his love for this country, which he sometimes calls ‘home’, and his business interests here – we should remember his economically illiterate and counter-productive tariffs are causing very real damage to this country and, indeed, the world.

The US President is no friend to Scotland.