President Donald Trump revealed that he had threatened Pakistan and India with putting a punishing 350% tariff on their products to end the conflict between the nuclear powers in the summer after which Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked him for saving lives and Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “we’re not going to go to war.”
Trump’s remarks came as he underscored his success in making peace deals by using the U.S. trade and economic leverage in a speech to the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum in NewKi York on Wednesday.
“I’m good at settling disputes… India, Pakistan… they were going to go at it, nuclear weapons,” he said of the two South Asian neighbors who fought a deadly conflict from May 7 to 10 with one of the largest aerial dogfights in the history.
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According to Trump, he warned both countries that they “can go at it, but I’m putting a 350 per cent tariff on each country. No more trade with the United States.”
The U.S. president told Pakistani and Indian leaders in stark terms that he would not let things spiral into a situation where the two nuclear powers would be exchanging deadly weapons.
“Come back to me and I’ll take it (tariff) down. But I’m not going to have you guys shooting nuclear weapons at each other, killing millions of people and having the nuclear dust floating over Los Angeles.”
As a result, Trump continued, the two countries got back to him after his tariff threat.
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Trump even told his Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that he would enforce the 350 per cent tariff.
At the same time, Trump vowed to consider a “nice trade deal” if Pakistan and Ind ceased clashes.
Trump said Pakistan Prime Minister Sharif expressed gratitude for Trump “saving millions of lives,” and also in remarks later in the presence of his White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called him after the tariff threat.
Trump said Modi told him, “We ’re done,” and when Trump asked Modi what he meant, the Indian prime minister replied: “We’re not going to go to war.”
“Thank you very much, let’s make a (trade) deal,” Trump told Modi upon hearing his response.
New Delhi has not yet commented on the latest statement by President Trump but in the past, Modi contradicted statements that India and Pakistan reached a ceasefire agreement through the U.S. intervention.
Ali Imran is a Washington-based journalist, who has worked for leading world news organizations as a correspondent, expert and in editorial positions. He is a published author and poet.
Kiran Asim is a writer who covers the U.S., Europe, South Asia, and the Middle East. Her reports and analyses look at the geostrategic issues and contemporary developments and their economic and political implications. She also writes about society and education.
