Trump presidency offers ‘opportunities’ for Scotland’s clean economy, says Kate Forbes

The re-election of President Donald Trump could bring benefits to Scotland’s green economy, deputy first minister Kate Forbes has said.

Speaking exclusively to Holyrood, Forbes said the UK could look more attractive to investors due to offering more regulatory and policy certainty than the United States.

This could help grow the clean economy in Scotland, not just relating to the renewable energy sector but also sectors with high energy demand.

Trump’s inauguration will take place next week, following a landslide victory in the US election in November.

In the run-up to the election, Trump pledged to reverse many of the climate policies put in place over the last four years under President Biden.

That includes the Inflation Reduction Act, which provides incentives to invest in clean energy technology, manufacturing, and innovation.

Trump has also recently urged called for the UK to “open up” the North Sea oil and gas industry, dubbing the UK Government’s decision to focus on renewables as a “very big mistake”.

Forbes, who is also Scotland’s economy secretary, said that while his re-election will have a knock-on impact on the global economy, it presented an opportunity for Scotland.

She told Holyrood that “Scotland looks a lot more certain than elsewhere” for people looking to invest in net zero due to “uncertainty about where the US will go on cleaner energy”.

She said: “If an investor wishes to invest in clean energy, they may now look again at the United Kingdom, and again at Scotland, because there is that regulatory and that policy certainty about our move over [to net zero].

“We have 40GW of offshore wind in the pipeline, and you’ll know if you do the maths, at peak time our needs as a country are far less than that in terms of electricity, so the opportunity to invest in data centres, all these intensive industries that rely on clean energy, is huge.”

The deputy first minister also defended the Scottish Government’s engagement with Trump since his election victory.

First Minister John Swinney congratulated the president-elect, who owns two golf courses in Scotland, in November and went on to hold “positive” phone talks with him a month later.

Forbes said ministers had a “duty to stand up for” Scottish business and products because the economy was “intimately connected with global trade”.

On Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on goods coming into the US, she said it would be a “matter of concern” which could not be countered by exporting elsewhere.

“My argument would be you can disagree with the leader while still engaging with that nation’s economy, and I’m afraid that you also have to work through that leader,” she added.

And reflecting on the growth of ring-wing parties more generally – including Reform UK – Forbes said it was the SNP’s responsibility to “make the positive, hopeful vision for centre-left values” to convince voters.

After a bruising general election which saw her party lose dozens of seats, she said the SNP had “started to turn things around” and that, come the next Holyrood election, it will be in a position to present “evidence of delivery and a vision that gives hope”.

“That is what will convince people that the SNP is the means of delivering a better Scotland and that they can get behind that,” she said.