Trump Claims Tariff Threats Kept India and Pakistan from Escalating Conflict

No one’s keeping count of how many times US President Donald Trump has claimed to have brokered a truce between India and Pakistan. True to form, he brought it up again in a recent interview, repeating that a tariff threat to both countries prompted them to declare a ceasefire.

A persistent Trump now has a new reason to back his claim: Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Ever since Sharif praised Trump at the Gaza Peace Summit in Egypt, Trump has been citing those remarks to support his assertion that he played a role in ending hostilities between India and Pakistan after their military conflict in May.

In an interview with Fox News, Trump said he ended eight wars, five of them owing to tariffs. Citing an example, Trump said: “The threat of tariffs kept India and Pakistan, two nuclear nations, from going at it. Seven planes were shot down...that could've been a nuclear war.”

“The Prime Minister of Pakistan just said that Donald Trump saved millions of lives. I said to India and Pakistan pretty much the same thing - If you're gonna fight each other, I'm not doing business with you, we're gonna put 200% tariffs, which will make it impossible for you to deal,” Trump added.

He also shared how India and Pakistan responded to the threat. “No, no, no, they said. And after 24 hours I settled the war.”

The praise from Shehbaz Sharif Donald Trump keeps harping on came at the Sharm El-Sheikh Gaza Peace Summit last week. The Pakistan PM had given Trump all the credit he had been seeking for “stopping a war” with India, and yet again sought a Nobel Prize for the leader “for his outstanding, extraordinary contributions… to stop the war between India and Pakistan and then achieve a ceasefire along with his very wonderful team”.

The summit was called to mark the historic Gaza peace deal between Israel and Hamas and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among global leaders invited to attend it. However, PM Modi chose to depute MoS for Foreign Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh to attend the summit.

India and Pakistan saw a big conflict in May this year after India launched Operation Sindoor, a military action against terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, launched to avenge the killing of 26 civilians in the Pahalgam terror attack in April.

A ceasefire was declared on May 10 following days of military conflict between the two countries, a development Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed credit for. While Pakistan has acknowledged his role, New Delhi has always clarified that the truce was reached bilaterally.