John Swinney said he got involved in the talks about US whisky tariffs because the UK government “was sleeping on the job”.
The First Minister said whisky was not featuring in any of the demands of the UK government back in April when he began raising the issue.
Douglas Alexander, the Scottish Secretary, has accused Mr Swinney of trying to take credit for talks that had been underway for some time involving UK government officials.
Mr Swinney raised the issue with the US ambassador to the UK, Warren Stephens, at Bute House on Saturday – a day after Mr Alexander met the ambassador.
This followed the First Minister’s meetings with President Trump in Scotland in July and subsequently in Washington.
In a media interview, Mr Swinney said: “I became involved in the issues around whisky tariffs because the UK government was sleeping on the job and whisky was not featuring in any of the demands of the UK government back in April when I began raising this issue.
“I used the opportunity of President Trump’s visit in July to make the case for a bespoke deal with Scotland and distillers in the US.
“He [the president] took that so seriously he welcomed me into the Oval Office to discuss these issues.
“What I was doing was what the people of Scotland would expect me to do which is to protect the economic interests of our iconic industries.
“If the only person on the planet that is moaning about my involvement is the Secretary of State for Scotland it tells us more about the Secretary of State for Scotland than it does about anyone else on the planet.”
A UK Government spokesperson said: “We have always used our trade agenda to promote our world-class Scotch whisky industry, by continually engaging with the US on the issue and securing significant tariffs cuts in our other trade deals like with India.
“Our deal in May secured preferential access to Scotch whisky to the US market compared with other major economies. We continue to work to ensure this deal protects British jobs and exports as part of our Plan for Change.”
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