Donald Trump on Friday hailed Britain’s vote to exit the EU as a “great thing” shortly after arriving in Scotland on a business trip, his first foreign visit since becoming the presumptive Republican US presidential nominee.
“I think it’s a great thing that happened, an amazing vote, very historic. We’re very happy,” the 70-year-old Republican leader said as he arrived at Trump Turnberry for the reopening of a refurbished Open venue golf resort.
Trump had added his name to the Ayrshire hotel and golf course after buying the resort for an undisclosed fee in 2014. According to reports, he invested USD 300 million. “People are angry. All over the world they’re angry. We’re doing very well in the US and essentially the same thing has happened in the US. They are angry over borders, they are angry over people coming into the country,” he said when asked why people voted for Brexit. The American billionaire emerged from helicopter wearing one of his own Make America Great Again hats, alongside daughter Ivanka and son Eric. They were greeted by bagpipe players in a traditional Scottish welcome.
Trump’s business links with Scotland began a decade ago as he promised to create a legacy to his mother Mary MacLeod, who was born in Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides. He owns more than a dozen golf resorts in the US and opened his first in the UK, at the Menie estate in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, in 2012 after controversy surrounding planning, environmental issues and clashes with local people who refused to move.