Donald Trump has waded into the debate surrounding Sydney Sweeney’s jeans ad.

The American Eagle ad, which features the 27-year-old actress, who starred in the HBO series Euphoria and White Lotus, has the tagline “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans”.

It has sparked a debate in the US over race and Western beauty standards.

In a Truth Social post, the US president described it as the “hottest ad out there”.

Hailing Sweeney as a “registered Republican”, he said the jeans are “flying off the shelves”, adding: “Go get ’em Sydney!”

Most of the criticism of the ad has centred on videos using the word “genes” instead of “jeans”, with one in which Sweeney says: “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair colour, personality and even eye colour. My jeans are blue.”

Critics argued the play on words potentially promotes eugenics, a discredited theory that believed humanity could be improved through the selective breeding of certain traits.

But others have defended the ad, saying the critics are reading too much into its message.

The video appeared on American Eagle’s Facebook page and other social media channels, but is not part of the ad campaign.

In a statement on Instagram on Friday, American Eagle Outfitters said the campaign “is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans. Her story. We’ll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone.”

Stocks in American Eagle Outfitters jumped by 23.3% after Mr Trump’s intervention.

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In his Truth Social post, which he reposted three times to fix various typos, Mr Trump compared the ad with “woke” ones “on the other side of the ledger” – as he criticised other companies, as well as hitting out at Taylor Swift.

“The tide has seriously turned – Being WOKE is for losers, being Republican is what you want to be,” he wrote.

Sky News has contacted Sweeney’s agent for comment.

The scientist who first raised the alarm over microplastics in the world’s oceans has warned of a “David vs Goliath” battle between scientists and the plastics industry – as delegates begin to negotiate a global deal to reduce plastic pollution.

As United Nations talks begin this week, Professor Richard Thompson, head of the International Marine Litter unit at Plymouth University, said: “We’re seeing some coercion and some pressure being put by some of those that have got conflicts of interest that fear they stand to lose from the treaty progress.”

Representatives of 175 countries will meet in Switzerland today, for what should be a final round of negotiations over a legally binding treaty to reduce plastic pollution.

The United Nations says while some countries are taking action on plastic, pollution is a global problem that needs a global agreement – but there is no official scientific presence at the talks.

Professor Thompson, who is attending the negotiations, said: “We’re only there as observers with a limited capacity to speak, whereas those from the industry have got a massive vested interest. They’re funded to be there. And it’s a bit of a David and Goliath battle.”

He continued: “It concerns me that I see some nations that are taking an increasingly short-sighted view, a view that’s perhaps driven by political cycles or short-run profits.

“You know, we need those leaders of countries, those negotiators, to take the long-term view to protect our planet for future generations.”

More than 430 million tonnes of plastic is produced each year.

But according to environmental charity WWF, around 11 million tonnes end up in the ocean each year as pollution.

And that’s expected to rise to 29 million tonnes a year by 2040.

There is wide consensus among countries that plastic pollution is a problem, but they are split over what to do about it.

The UK and more than 70 other nations that are part of a “High Ambition Coalition” want production and consumption of plastic reduced to sustainable levels.

But major oil producing nations and the chemical industry oppose any cuts.

The previous round of talks, in South Korea last year, collapsed in disagreement.

Professor Thompson is a founding member of the Scientists’ Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty.

‘Strong treaty’ still possible

He said previous negotiations have been swamped by lobbyists from the chemicals industry putting pressure on delegates – and that if a good agreement cannot be achieved, leading countries should look to work outside the United Nations framework.

Professor Thompson said: “Given that there are more than 100 nations that are already backing the level of ambition that’s required, I think it could be possible to take this out of the UN process, to have a strong treaty that will function to end plastic pollution, to start with those 100 or 120 or so countries and to add others over time.

“I think there’ll be a realisation for those that aren’t on board initially, that if they don’t join forces with that coalition of the willing, they’re going to suffer in terms of their own international trade and that it’s better to be part of that strong treaty than not to be.”

Plastic is so widely used because it’s cheap, durable and can take many forms. So production of new plastic will only fall if better use can be made of the material that already exists.

The company Project Plan B is working with the charity The Salvation Army to recycle polyester textiles.

They’ve installed the first machine of its kind to turn the material into plastic pellets that can be used to make yarn for new clothes.

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‘Terrible waste’

Just a handful of the pellets is enough to make a T-shirt.

Tim Cross, the director of Project Plan B, said the aim is to make the recycling process a closed loop, so as little as possible escapes as waste or pollution.

“This makes much better use of that plastic,” he said.

“If we’re wasting it and losing it into the environment, that’s a terrible waste, and we mustn’t allow that to happen.”

The UK produces around 700,000 tonnes of textile waste each year. Almost all is landfilled or incinerated.

A major problem is that most clothes are made of mixed materials, which makes it uneconomical to recycle them.

A polyester shirt may have nylon buttons and cotton thread.

But Project Plan B has been working with school uniform maker David Luke on a blazer made completely out of polyester and 100% recyclable.

“These garments normally last on children’s backs for a couple of years and used as goalposts a few times. And then what?” said Mr Cross.

“We wanted to make sure that we can fully recycle the blazer through the system that we’ve got here, so we had to completely redesign it.

“This is groundbreaking, changing the way that clothing can be made.

“When you’ve got something that is recycled and recyclable, you’ve got an instant solution.”

As riots broke out across the country last summer following the Southport attack, fear spread in a majority Muslim part of Birmingham that far-right protesters were on their way.

Locals came out on to the streets, and as I was reporting live on air, I was surrounded by a small group of masked men, swearing and gesturing to the camera.

Afterwards, as we were trying to drive away from the area, a man with a knife followed us and attempted to slash a tyre on our broadcast van.

A year on, I have returned to the area to discuss what happened with some of those who saw their city descend into chaos.

“The local community had lost faith in the local elected members as well as the local policing units,” says Naeem Yousef, 48, who lives nearby. 

“They thought…the only way to protect themselves and the community was by coming out in force.”

‘You can’t control their behaviour’

Tanveer Choudhry, 56, agrees. “In every community we have our sort of, shall we call them… idiots, and you can’t control their behaviour,” he says. 

“I think there was a concern that the far-right group that was coming may well be armed… so I think it was just trying to counteract what they thought was coming.”

We are sitting in a cafe, not far from where the unrest broke out last summer.

‘They were looking for who they thought were the enemy’

The group I’m with were invited by community activist Naveed Sadiq, who was there that day.

As well as Naveed, there are three other local Muslim men, and two white residents, including Gerry Moynihan.

He recalls deciding to stay at home that day.

“They were looking for what they thought were the enemy – white people – and trying to find white people,” he says.

“Which is why I stayed in my house, because the intelligence I had was, don’t get involved, don’t walk around, and you know, it will pass.”

I ask the group if my team and I were targeted because we were white.

“It’s not because you’re white, it’s because they’re actually bored,” Naveed says. “They were wanting a bit of excitement.”

I ask if they think it would have happened if we were all British Asian.

“Of course,” Tanveer replies. “It wasn’t the fact that you were white… it was just the heat of the moment”.

Naeem believes it happened simply because the men involved “do not want anyone filming what they’re doing”.  

“You could have been Asian… they would still try to get you out of the area,” he insists.

‘Are we going to be accepted?’

I’m keen to understand how these men feel now and whether the sentiment that brought people out on to the streets to “protect” them has been reignited by the recent protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers.

The answer, from Joe Khann, a local Muslim man, would surprise many.

“I would like to go and join them,” he says, referring to the anti-immigration protesters who have gathered several times in Epping. 

“We have this problem within our own communities, and people don’t talk about it. We feel exactly the same and we understand how the English feel with the immigration,” he explains.

“We’re having people who are getting married back home, they get married for six months, get divorced…and the government gives them all their help to get accommodation, their national insurance numbers and all that,” he says.

“We’re getting fed up within our own community because we hear this constantly.”

However, he thinks if he did try to join in protests, people would “think I’m an immigrant”.

He says he is “born here, 58, and they look at me as a foreigner or a migrant”.

Naeem agrees. “The question is for us now, as people who are born and bred in this country, what is our identity? Who are we?” he asks. 

“As a white person born in this country, you are automatically accepted. Are we going to be accepted? How many generations will it take for us to be accepted?”

‘You have to blame someone’

Naeem is also concerned about immigration.

“We have an influx of people that we do not know about, and they have no loyalty to the area,” he says.

“I believe that the average white guy… isn’t racist, they’re just fed up,” adds Naveed. 

However, these men do have grievances, particularly with the media.

“We feel that we have a two-tier journalists system where when the colour is like mine we get different justice and when the colour is a bit paler it’s different,” Naveed says.

‘We have become the bogeyman’

“When there’s criminality, and it’s on the news, a Muslim has to be identified by his religion,” Naeem says. 

He believes Muslims have become the “bogeyman” in many people’s minds.

“Where you don’t have housing for example, where the crime has increased, you have to blame someone,” he says.

“Prior it was the Irish community, now it’s the Muslim community.

“It’s a distraction from the actual real issues and how you can resolve them but let’s just put it on to the Muslim community for now, let’s just distract the whole nation and say look it’s the problem with asylum, it’s a problem with Muslims,” he says.

After leaving, I head over to the spot on the roundabout where my team were targeted last year.

As I stand there, my colleague sees a man imitating pulling the trigger of a gun at me from his car.

This is Britain, in broad daylight.