Nicola Sturgeon has said she will meet US president-elect Donald Trump if he comes to Scotland and the opportunity arises.
The first minister insisted there was no point in “pretending” he had not won and revealed her hope that they can have a relationship “based on values”.
To date they have never met, but she wrote to him in the immediate aftermath of his victory and the pair spoke on the phone last week.
Asked whether she would meet him, the SNP leader replied: “Obviously he spends time in Scotland, he has Scottish ancestry.
“If he comes – as I’m sure he will – he’s the president (elect) of America and if the opportunity is there, I’d meet him.
“I’ve written to him to congratulate him. I don’t think it’s any secret that I would rather that he hadn’t been elected.
“But he has, and so I’m going to respect that.
“I’m not going to abandon my own values, just as I’m sure he’s not going to abandon the things he believes in.
“Hopefully we can have a relationship based on values, although I do hope he does abandon some of the values that he campaigned on.
“He’s going to be the president of America. There’s no point in pretending otherwise.”
She made the remarks in an interview conducted by Scottish actor Alan Cumming for The Big Issue.
During the US presidential race, Ms Sturgeon made clear her support for Democrat Hillary Clinton and disapproval of Mr Trump, whose mother was born on the Isle of Lewis.
She went as far as to strip the Republican of his status as a business ambassador for Scotland following his campaign trail call for Muslims to be banned from entering America.
Mr Trump owns two golf courses in Scotland and took time out of his presidential campaign to mark the reopening of Turnberry with his family in June.
In the wide-ranging interview, the first minister also revealed she is “tempted” to run an SNP candidate in England.
She said: “There are a lot (of people) in England – a lot who contact me – who feel completely disenfranchised, that there is nobody speaking up for them.
“Our London branch is booming at the moment.”
