Trump claims again he 'helped settle' India-Pak tensions using trade as leverage
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U.S. President Donald Trump has reiterated his claim that he facilitated a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, stating that it was achieved through "trade talks."
"…And by the way, I don't want to say I did, but I sure as hell helped settle the problem between Pakistan and India last week, which was getting more and more hostile,” he said while addressing US military personnel at al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
"And all of a sudden, you'll start seeing missiles of a different type. And we got it settled. I hope, I hope I don't walk out of here and two days later find out that it's not settled, but I think it is settled,” Trump said.
Reaffirming his earlier statement, President Donald Trump claimed that the United States leveraged trade negotiations to help broker peace between India and Pakistan. He referred to discussions held with both nations, “Let's do trade instead of do war. And Pakistan was very happy with that, and India was very happy with that, and I think they're on the way, you know, they have been fighting for about 1,000 years in all fairness,” he said as he laughed slightly, PTI reported.
"So I said, you know, I could settle that up. I can settle anything. Let me set it up. Let's get them all together. How long have you been fighting? About 1,000 years. Oh, that's a lot. I'm not sure about that. I'm not sure about settling. That's a tough one. They've been fighting for a long time, but we got that settled. Nobody, boy, everybody was very happy. I'll tell you that looked like it was really going to be escalating out of control,” he added.
Earlier today, President Donald Trump claimed that India has agreed to remove tariffs on goods imported from the United States, TNIE reported.
They've (India) offered us a deal where basically they're willing to literally charge us no tariff. So we go from the highest tariff. You couldn't do business in India... But I said to Tim...we treated you really good. We put up with all the plants that you built in China for years. Now you got to build us. We're not interested in you building in India. India can take care of themselves. They're doing very well. We want you to build here. And they're going to be upping their production in the United States, Apple," Trump said.
Meanwhile, Congress questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence on Trump's repeated statements about the ceasefire and trade deals with India.
"The Commerce Minister is in Washington DC and President Trump has made yet another grand announcement from Doha. There is total chuppi from our PM. What has he agreed to and what linkage is there between this and the stoppage of Operation Sindoor?" AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh asked in a post on X.
On May 10, U.S. President Donald Trump was the first to announce a ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan, doing so even before either country issued an official statement. His announcement drew sharp criticism from opposition parties in India.
The following day, Trump claimed that the ceasefire was the result of trade being used as leverage during U.S. negotiations with both nations. However, this assertion was refuted by India’s Ministry of External Affairs, which clarified that trade was not discussed in any of the conversations between Indian and U.S. officials during Operation Sindoor, India’s military action against Pakistan.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar reaffirmed on Thursday that India’s longstanding policy opposing third-party involvement in matters related to Kashmir and Pakistan remains unchanged.
On May 7, India conducted precision strikes on nine terror sites in Pakistan in retaliation for the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, which claimed the lives of 26 civilians.
In response, Pakistan launched cross-border firing, shelling, and attacks on Indian military installations, all of which were effectively countered by Indian forces. Pakistani airstrikes targeting border areas in Poonch led to the deaths of at least 16 people, including children.
On May 10, India retaliated by striking eight Pakistani air bases using missiles and other long-range weaponry, following Pakistan’s failed attempts to hit 26 Indian military sites.
The escalation came to a halt later that day, after high-level discussions between the Director Generals of Military Operations (DGMOs) of both countries, during which an agreement was reached to cease further military actions on the afternoon of May 10.
