Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: US President Donald Trump has claimed that he got things settled between India and Pakistan during their conflict in May through trade, even though in reality, there is no deal with India. “I got things settled with India, Pakistan [and] I think it was trade more than any other reason,” he said on August 8. India has denied that trade came up in any of the discussions with US leaders during Operation Sindoor or that Trump mediated a truce.
Soon after Trump first made the claim after the cessation of hostilities in May, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “The issue of trade or tariff did not come up in any of those discussions.” Trade negotiations between India and the US are at a stalemate and Trump has unilaterally set a 25 per cent tariff on India.
Trump also speculated that the additional punitive tariff of 25 per cent that he said he was putting on India could have spurred Moscow to make progress towards a peace deal with Ukraine. “I think that a lot of things happened recently that would make this go forward,” he said. “I’m not going to mention anything having to do with India,” Trump added.
Singling out India for the punitive tariff for buying Russian oil was seen as his attempt to put economic pressure on Moscow, as it could lose oil revenue from New Delhi, the second-biggest customer. While Trump said on Truth Social that he concluded a trade deal with Pakistan on July 30 and that it involves joint oil reserves development, neither side gave full details, if indeed there was such a deal.
Trump imposed a 19 per cent tariff on Pakistan the next day, but nothing was said about what Islamabad had offered the US, which was reported in other deals.
