However, two days later, Trump again claimed that he was the one who ‘stopped’ a possible nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan after the two countries got engaged in a series of cross-border attacks following Operation Sindoor initiated by India as a retaliation to the Pahalgam terror attack. Trump said that he promised to do a ‘lot of trade’ with India and Pakistan, after which the countries agreed to a ceasefire.”
There have been some more recent occasions when Trump has doubled down on his claim that it was he who mediated the ceasefire between India and Pakistan. On May 22, speaking at the White House’s Oval Office during a meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Trump said, “If you take a look at what we just did with Pakistan and India, we settled that whole, and I think I settled it through trade.”
On May 29, at a hearing before the US Trade Court in New York, in signed statements submitted by Trump and some of his other senior officials, the US administration claimed that the president had used his tariff power to broker a ceasefire between India and Pakistan after both nuclear-powered neighbours were involved in a conflict. They also urged the court to uphold the tariff power, saying the legal setback could revive the India-Pakistan conflict.
As mentioned in the opening paragraph, even more recently, on May 30, while addressing a press conference along with Tesla CEO and billionaire Elon Musk, who was demitting the DOGE office, Trump said that he had used trade pressure as leverage to halt the escalating conflict between India and Pakistan.
India has repeatedly refuted Trump’s claim that the threat of ‘no trade with the US’ led to the ceasefire. India has categorically said that it was the force of arms that “compelled” Pakistan to “stop its firing”. At a press briefing on May 13, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “From the time Operation Sindoor commenced on May 7 till the understanding on cessation of firing and military action on May 10, there were conversations between Indian and US leaders on the evolving military situation. The issue of trade did not come up in any of these discussions.” This has been India’s consistent position all along. India has stressed that the cessation of firing was decided upon through direct contacts between the DGMOs of India and Pakistan.
In addition to claiming that he had mediated the ceasefire between India and Pakistan, Trump has also offered to mediate on the long-standing Kashmir dispute. He said on his Truth Social platform, “I will work with you both to see if, after a “thousand years,” a solution can be arrived at concerning Kashmir.” Pakistan immediately welcomed Trump’s offer to mediate between India and Pakistan. Appreciating what it described as the “constructive role played by the United States” in the ceasefire talks, the Pakistan government said, “We also appreciate President Trump’s expressed willingness to support efforts aimed at the resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.” Pakistan said that it is a longstanding issue and has serious implications for peace and security in South Asia and beyond. It further stressed that the government “reaffirms that any just and lasting settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute must be in accordance with the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions and must ensure the realisation of the fundamental rights of the Kashmiri people, including their inalienable right to self-determination”.
