John Swinney has made a personal plea to President Trump to rethink the 10% tariffs planned for the whisky industry. The First Minister made his pitch during a dinner with the Republican politician on the site of his golf course in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire. Trump is on the last leg of a five day trip to Scotland which included visits to his golf clubs at Turnberry and in the North East. Swinney , who backed the Democrat candidate Kamala Harris in last year’s presidential contest, had two separate sets of discussions with the President. He is understood to have spoken to Trump for around two hours at the private dinner on Monday evening . With the UK in line for 10% tariffs on imports to the US, the First Minister lobbied an exemption for whisky. An SNP Government source said a “window of opportunity” exists between now and Trump’s state visit to the UK in September to rethink the tariffs on whisky. The insider said: “It is certainly on the President ’s radar in a way it was not before”. Trump himself said at Turnberry on Monday that he would “look” at concerns over tariffs on the iconic Scottish product. The First Minister previously said the tariffs were currently costing the local whisky industry £4m a week. On Tuesday morning , ahead of the President opening a second course at Balmedie, he and Swinney met for breakfast. They were joined by Trump ’s sons Eric and Don Jnr where the crisis in Gaza was raised by the First Minister. He welcomed the aid provided for Gaza by the US and told Trump he is uniquely placed to intervene in the humanitarian crisis. In a sign of the warm relations between Trump and Swinney during the trip, the President singled him out for praise before he cut the ribbon on the new course. He asked Swinney to stand up in front of assembled guests and referred to him as a “very special guy”. To sign up to the Daily R ecord Politics newsletter, click here