Trump says he threatened India and Pakistan with 250% tariffs

US President Donald Trump said he threatened India and Pakistan with 250% tariffs to help spur the resolution of their conflict earlier this year, describing Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “the nicest-looking guy,” reported Bloomberg.

Trump made the comments on Wednesday while addressing a meeting of corporate leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Gyeongju.

He also claimed that "seven brand new" planes were shot down during the conflict without specifying to which country they belonged.


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"I said to Prime Minister Modi, and I said to the prime minister, a very nice man, a very good man, and the Field Marshal over in Pakistan, I said, Look, we're not going to do any trade if you're going to be fighting," Trump said.

Trump said that India and Pakistan argued that war has nothing to do with trade with the US.

"(They said)one thing has nothing to do with the other. I said this, it has a lot to do with the other ...two nuclear powers...we get that nuclear dust all over the place. All of you are affected, right? And we said, No, we're not doing any deals if you're going to fight. And within about 24 hours, that was the end of that. It was amazing, actually," the US President said.

Earlier, people familiar with the discussions told The Economic Times that negotiations are in the final stages, with talks focused on reducing US tariffs on Indian exports, possibly cutting them to 15% from the current 50%. “The contours of the deal are still being finalised,” one person aware of the talks said.

Since May 10, when Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a "full and immediate" ceasefire after a "long night" of talks mediated by Washington, he has repeated his claim dozens of times that he "helped settle" the conflict between India and Pakistan.

India has consistently maintained that the understanding on cessation of hostilities with Pakistan was reached following direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two militaries.

India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians.

India and Pakistan reached an understanding on May 10 to end the conflict after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes.