US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (local time) claimed that he helped end the India-Pakistan conflict by allegedly threatening to impose 250 per cent tariffs on both countries, reiterating that he used trade as leverage to prevent further escalation between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
Addressing supporters at a midterm election rally in Corpus Christi, Texas, Trump said five of the eight wars he claimed to have ended were resolved through trade-related measures, citing India and Pakistan as an example.
“I ended eight wars, but five of them were ended by the use of trade, like India and Pakistan,” Trump said. His claim of ending eight wars came against the selection of Indian-origin South African jurist Navi Pillay for the Nobel Peace Prize.
During the rally, he called her a “woman that nobody ever heard of.”
Recalling his intervention during the military confrontation, Trump said he had contacted the prime ministers of India and Pakistan and warned them of severe economic consequences if hostilities continued.
“I called up two great prime ministers. I said, ‘Look, here’s the story: If you go to war they already shot down 11 planes, but they were in the midst, they were a week and a half in. Would you agree, Ted, that war was raging? And they’re nuclear powers, it would have been terrible,’” Trump said.
He added that he threatened to impose steep tariffs on both countries to discourage further fighting.
“And I said, if you go to war, if you keep doing this, I’m going to put 250% tariff on each of you, and you’re never going to be able to do business in the United States,” Trump said.
Recalling the response to his warning, Trump said the leaders initially objected, but he insisted that he would proceed with the proposed tariffs.
“‘No, no, no, you can’t do’ I said, ‘I’m going to do it,’” he said.
Trump suggested that the tariff threat may have given both sides a reason to step back from further confrontation.
“They might have been happy that I did it. Maybe it was an excuse for them not to fight. Who the hell wants to fight like that?” he said.
The US President further claimed that hostilities ended immediately after his intervention and cited remarks he attributed to Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
“But they immediately ended the war, and the Prime Minister of Pakistan, highly respected man, said, ‘President Donald Trump saved at least 30 million lives.’ At least,” Trump said.
