Trump Claims Tariffs Helped Prevent India-Pakistan Conflict
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Monday asserted that his use of tariffs serves as a tool to prevent wars, claiming that his recent communications with India and Pakistan during their conflict were “very effective.” He reiterated his assertion that trade measures helped halt hostilities between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
“Tariffs are very important for the United States. We are a peacekeeper because of tariffs. Not only do we generate hundreds of billions of dollars, but we also maintain peace through them,” Trump said in the Oval Office.
The president added that without the “power of tariffs,” four wars would still be ongoing. “I use tariffs to stop wars. Look at India and Pakistan—they were ready to go at it. Seven planes were shot down. They are nuclear powers. And I don’t want to say exactly what I said, but it was very effective. They stopped. And that was based on tariffs. It was based on trade,” he stated.
India, however, has consistently rejected any claim of third-party intervention. Operation Sindoor, launched by India on May 7, targeted terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in response to the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians. After four days of cross-border drone and missile strikes, both countries agreed on May 10 to cease hostilities.
India has maintained that the ceasefire was the result of direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two countries. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has emphasized in Parliament that no foreign leader requested India to halt Operation Sindoor.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that he ended seven wars during his second term, citing conflicts involving India and Pakistan, Cambodia and Thailand, Kosovo and Serbia, the Congo and Rwanda, Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, and Armenia and Azerbaijan. Since May 10, he has frequently asserted that Washington helped mediate a “full and immediate” ceasefire between India and Pakistan.
“The seven wars I ended—at least half of them were due to my skill in trade and the use of tariffs. Without them, you’d have at least four wars raging right now, with thousands of deaths daily,” the president added.
