President of the United States visit materials: FOI release

Information requested

1. All correspondence (including Whatsapp, text message, email and postal correspondence) regarding Donald Trump's visit to Scotland at the end of July, between government ministers and government staff and external agencies.

2. All minutes of meetings regarding the visit.

3. All minutes of the meeting between John Swinney and Donald Trump which took place today (29 July 2025).

4. All briefing notes prepared for John Swinney regarding this meeting and the visit in general.

5. A copy of the itinerary for John Swinney's meeting with Donald Trump.

6. Any costs incurred by the Scottish Government as a result of Donald Trump's visit.

Response

1. All correspondence (including Whatsapp, text message, email and postal correspondence) regarding Donald Trump's visit to Scotland at the end of July, between government ministers and government staff and external agencies.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the costs of locating, retrieving and providing the information requested would exceed the upper cost limit of £600. The reason for this is that in order to locate and retrieve that information, we would need to conduct a search of all records held by the Scottish Government.

Under section 12 of FOISA public authorities are not required to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying would exceed the upper cost limit, which is currently set at £600 by Regulations made under section 12.

You may, however, wish to consider reducing the scope of your request in order that the costs can be brought below £600. For example, you could restrict your request to a specific business area of the Scottish Government, as this would allow us to limit the searches that would require to be conducted.

You may also find it helpful to look at the Scottish Information Commissioner’s ‘Tips for requesting information under FOI and the EIRs’ on his website at:
http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourRights/Tipsforrequesters.aspx.

2. All minutes of meetings regarding the visit.

I enclose a copy of most of the information you requested. This can be found at Annex A.

While our aim is to provide information wherever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested.

An exemption under section 27(1) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested because we intend to publish that information within 12 weeks of the date of your request. The Scottish Government is working with partners to identify their final costs, and in the interests of openness and transparency the Scottish Government has committed to making details of the costs publicly available, once they are known. We consider that it is reasonable to withhold the information until that date, rather than release this information before the planned publication date.

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption. We recognise that there is some public interest in release because of the significant interest in the costs of the presidential visit, and this will be met by our planned publication. In the meantime, there is a greater public interest in taking the time necessary to ensure the information has been properly collated, that the final costs are confirmed and checked before they are published as planned. Also, we see no public interest in disrupting our programme of work to release the information ahead of the intended publication date.

An exemption under section 32(1)(a), international relations, of FOISA applies to some of the information that you requested. This exemption applies because disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially relations between the UK and another state and the promotion or protection by the UK of its interests abroad.

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption.

We recognise that there is a public interest in disclosing information as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, there is a greater public interest in ensuring the protection of the UK’s interests abroad.

An exemption under section 33(1)(b), commercial interests, of FOISA applies to some of the information you requested. The reason section 33(1)(b) applies to the information requested is because disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the commercial interests of any person. “Person” includes a public authority, company and partnership.

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemptions. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption.

We recognise that there is some public interest in disclosing information as part of open government and transparency. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in ensuring the smooth and safe operation of the commercial interests of Scottish organisations.

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA, personal information, applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party, such as the names of officials, and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exemption is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.

3. Minutes of the meetings between John Swinney and Donald Trump which took place today (29 July 2025)

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide the information you have requested because the Scottish Government does not have the information you requested at the time of writing.

4. Briefing notes prepared for John Swinney regarding this meeting and the visit in general.

I enclose a copy of most of the information you requested. This can be found at Annex A.

While our aim is to provide information wherever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested.

Exemptions under sections 30(b)(i) and 30(b)(ii) of FOISA (free and frank advice and exchange of views) apply to some of the information requested. These exemptions apply because disclosure would, or would be likely to, inhibit substantially the free and frank provision of advice and exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation. The exemptions recognise the need for Ministers to have a private space within which to seek advice and views from officials before reaching the settled public position which will be given in whatever final lines to take are used. Disclosing the content of free and frank briefing material on will substantially inhibit such briefing in the future, particularly because discussions on the issue are still ongoing and final decisions have not been taken, and these discussions relate to a sensitive or controversial issue such as trade negotiations.

These exemptions are subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemptions. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemptions. We recognise that there is a public interest in disclosing information as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, there is a greater public interest in allowing a private space within which officials can provide free and frank advice and views to Ministers in briefing for lines to take. It is clearly in the public interest that Ministers can properly answer Parliamentary questions, provide sound information to Parliament (to which they are accountable), and robustly defend the Government’s policies and decisions. They need full and candid advice from officials to enable them to do so. Premature disclosure of this type of information could lead to a reduction in the comprehensiveness and frankness of such advice and views in the future, which would not be in the public interest.

An exemption under section 32(1)(a), international relations, of FOISA applies to some of the information that you requested. This exemption applies because disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially relations between the UK and another state and the promotion or protection by the UK of its interests abroad.

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption.

We recognise that there is a public interest in disclosing information as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, there is a greater public interest in ensuring the protection of the UK’s interests abroad.

5. A copy of the itinerary for John Swinney's meeting with Donald Trump.

The itinerary for John Swinney’s meeting with Donald Trump is included as part of the briefing note that was prepared for their meeting, provided in response to part four of your request.

6. Any costs incurred by the Scottish Government as a result of Donald Trump's visit.

An exemption under section s.27(1) of FOISA applies to the information you have requested because we intend to publish that information within 12 weeks of the date of your request. The Scottish Government is working with partners to identify their final costs, and in the interests of openness and transparency the Scottish Government has committed to making details of the costs publicly available, once they are known. We consider that it is reasonable to withhold the information until that date, rather than release this information before the planned publication date.

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption. We recognise that there is some public interest in release because of the significant interest in the costs of the presidential visit, and this will be met by our planned publication.

In the meantime, there is a greater public interest in taking the time necessary to ensure the information has been properly collated, that the final costs are confirmed and checked before they are published as planned. Also, we see no public interest in disrupting our programme of work to release the information ahead of the intended publication date.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI 202500478083 - Information released - Annex A

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