By Alistair Grant

Copyright scotsman

John Swinney has been accused of “playing politics with people’s jobs” over a deal with Donald Trump on whisky tariffs. Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander said the First Minister had misrepresented his own role in negotiations with the US. It comes after Mr Swinney met the president in the White House earlier this week to make the case for a better deal for whisky. The US is Scotland’s largest export market by value for whisky, worth £971 million in 2024. But a 10 per cent tariff is costing the industry £4m a week in lost exports, according to the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA). Get daily political analysis – subscribe for free to The Steamie Mr Swinney said there was a “real chance of a better deal” after he held “substantive” talks with Mr Trump. He said the ball was now firmly in the UK government’s court to get an agreement over the line. Mr Trump is due to arrive in the UK for a state visit next week. Speaking to the BBC on Friday morning, Mr Alexander said: “We are negotiating hard for the United Kingdom, and I can assure listeners to Good Morning Scotland that the Scotch whisky industry is very high up that list, if not at the very top of that list, in terms of what we are looking and seeking to negotiate, because we have already got some form on this. “We have just delivered a trade deal with India, which will see tariffs cut from about 150 per cent first to 75 per cent and then down to 40 per cent, which will be transformative to export opportunities for Scotch whisky. “So frankly, we are working hard between now and the state visit, and as necessary beyond the state visit to deliver for the whisky industry and all those who work in it here in Scotland.” In a statement released earlier on Friday, Mr Alexander had said: “With President Trump’s state visit just days away, we all need to put Scotland’s economy first – not political point scoring.” Asked what he meant by suggesting Mr Swinney was engaged in political point scoring, Mr Alexander told the BBC: “When he said that he had put whisky on the agenda, with great respect, we’d already done a deal with India, where whisky was a central feature of that deal. “But also, John Swinney knows that we had Peter Kyle on the ground in Washington on Monday. “We’ve had negotiators on the ground in Washington every day this week, and because we’ve shared that information with him, he’s fully aware that long before John Swinney arrived in the Oval Office, we were talking with and engaging with the US administration on the issue of whisky. “So I welcome the fact that John was in Washington. Frankly, if we have divisions at home, we will be less influential abroad. “But the reality is, we shouldn’t be playing politics with people’s jobs and the prospects of the Scotch whisky industry.” Mr Swinney previously claimed whisky had not being given “much of a priority” by UK ministers.