US President Donald Trump has doubled down on his claim that Washington played a role in mediating between India and Pakistan, saying that he settled the military conflict and cross-border tensions through trade.
Addressing a press conference with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who recently resigned from Doge, Trump said, “We stopped India and Pakistan from fighting. I believe that could have turned out into a nuclear disaster, and I want to thank the leaders of India and Pakistan, and I want to thank my people. Also, we talk trade, and we say we can’t trade with people who are shooting at each other and potentially using nuclear weapons. They’re great leaders in those countries, and they understood and they agreed, and that all stopped.”
#WATCH | US President Donald Trump says, "We stopped India and Pakistan from fighting. I believe that could have turned out into a nuclear disaster, and I want to thank the leaders of India and Pakistan, and I want to thank my people. Also, we talk trade, and we say we can't… pic.twitter.com/8xfvVXj7HU
— ANI (@ANI) May 30, 2025
His reiteration comes after US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick backed Trump’s claims in a filing to the Court of International Trade, where he said that the president used his emergency powers granted by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to implement tariff measures to protect national interests.
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View AllTrump’s latest comments come merely a week after he made the same claim during South African President Cyril Ramaphosa's visit to the White House last week, where he said he “settled” the tensions between India and Pakistan through trade.
Meanwhile, India has rejected Trump’s claim that trade deals were used to bring an end to the conflict. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “From the time Operation Sindoor commenced on May 7 till the time of cessation on May 10, there was conversation between India and the US… (but) the issue of tariffs never came up in these discussions.”