US President Donald Trump said Thursday he was removing tariffs on Scottish whisky in honor of Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla as they wrapped up their state visit.

Trump’s announcement as the royal couple ended their four-day trip to the United States represents a major trade concession to key ally Britain even as the Iran war strains transatlantic relations.

Shortly after bidding the British royals goodbye at the White House, Trump posted that he was making the gesture “in Honor of the King and Queen of the United Kingdom.”

“The King and Queen got me to do something that nobody else was able to do, without hardly even asking!” Trump said on his Truth Social network.

Scotch whisky from the UK has faced a 10-percent tariff during Trump’s second presidency. But the rate was on course to jump later this year when the suspension of an earlier 25-percent tariff — part of a previous trade truce — expires.

In his post, Trump said he was “removing the tariffs and restrictions” on whisky but added that it related to Scotland’s trade with the bourbon-making state of Kentucky, particularly on wooden barrels.

But US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer later appeared to confirm the announcement applied to the alcoholic drink itself.

“The United States will allow preferential duty access for whiskey produced in the United Kingdom,” Greer said in a statement.

He added that move was part of a broader trade deal announced by the United States and Britain in an Oval Office appearance by Trump last year.

Almost from the moment that Trump returned to power last year, Britain has been trying to make the case for whisky to be exempted from tariffs.

During Trump’s first term, his tariffs in 2019 against the European Union — which then included Britain — also targeted the UK’s whisky industry.

The United States remains the primary export market for Scotch whisky, accounting for $1.2 billion per year.

But the royal charm offensive by King Charles appeared to have paid off.

Trump hailed Charles as the “greatest king” as he waved him and Camilla off at the White House.

The visit was officially meant to celebrate transatlantic ties as the United States marks its 250th anniversary of independence from Britain, but much of Charles’s time has been spent smoothing over tensions over Iran.

Trump has bitterly criticized British Prime Minister Keir Starmer over his opposition to the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Ethiopia holds a general election on June 1, with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed all but guaranteed of victory despite multiple armed conflicts and the economic impact of the Middle East war.

– Who will win? –

Abiy has been in power since 2018 and his Prosperity Party (PP) won a landslide — 485 of the 502 contested seats — at the last general election in 2021.

That ballot was partially disrupted by the devastating civil war between the central government and the leaders of the Tigray region that claimed an estimated 600,000 lives.

Abiy was initially feted for improving civil liberties and earned a Nobel Peace Prize for restoring relations with Eritrea.

But his government has returned to a familiar authoritarianism, cracking down on opponents, rights groups and journalists.

Abiy has focused on gradually liberalising the heavily controlled economy in the hope of attracting investment and has projected double-digit growth this year.

But Ethiopia’s heavy reliance on oil imports means it has been among the worst hit by the Israeli-US war against Iran.

That is unlikely to prevent another landslide, and the ruling party has barely bothered with campaigning, policy announcements or even slogans.

Abiy has not even confirmed he is running, although few doubt he will return to power.

“This election is going to be among the least competitive since multi-party democracy was introduced (in 1991),” Abel Abate Demissie of the Chatham House think tank told AFP.

– What’s the security situation? –

The most populous regions, Oromia and Amhara, are experiencing long-running insurgencies and voting has already been cancelled in 30 of Amhara’s 137 constituencies.

Amhara militant group, the Fano, warned voters in March that it would consider anyone participating in the election “as complicit and fight against you”.

Despite the presence of some 500,000 federal soldiers and 30,000 police, “opportunities for spoilers abound”, said the Washington-based Africa Center for Strategic Studies in a recent report.

The national election authority has said voting will not take place in Tigray, where one million people are still displaced from the civil war, and the dominant regional party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, remains at odds with the government.

– Is anyone else running? –

There are 23 parties registered for the election but most are close to the PP.

“Many of the formidable opposition are reluctant to engage in elections. Some of them are in the bush and others in exile,” said Abel from Chatham House.

Ethiopia has never experienced truly free elections. In 2015, for instance, the ruling coalition won all the seats.

The organisation is demanding.

A budget of 10 billion birr ($64 million) has been allocated to organise the vote across some 49,000 polling stations in a country that covers over 1.1 million square kilometres (425,000 square miles).

In any case, the result is “pretty clear and it is likely (to be) another landslide for the incumbent”, said Abel.