In a characteristically bold claim, former U.S. President Donald Trump asserted on Wednesday that his administration played a decisive role in calming tensions between India and Pakistan—using trade negotiations as the diplomatic lever.
“I think I settled it through trade,” Trump said during a White House interview alongside visiting South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. Referring to the volatile relationship between the two South Asian nuclear powers, Trump added, “We’re doing a big deal with India. We’re doing a big deal with Pakistan. Somebody had to be the last one to shoot—the fighting was getting worse and worse, deeper into both countries.”
According to Trump, the U.S. administration stepped in as tensions escalated following a terror attack in Kashmir’s Pahalgam region, allegedly carried out by militants linked to Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba. His remarks appeared to frame U.S. intervention—particularly trade discussions—as a strategic pressure point that helped bring hostilities to a halt.
He went on to praise leaders on both sides, calling Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi “a great guy” and saying Pakistan had “some excellent people and great leaders.”
While multiple countries urged restraint during the heightened conflict, it was Trump who first publicly announced a “ceasefire,” claiming credit for defusing the crisis. His Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, later added that India and Pakistan had agreed to begin talks on a wide range of issues at a neutral venue—though the specifics of those negotiations remain undisclosed.
India, however, has consistently rejected third-party mediation in its disputes with Pakistan, emphasizing that all bilateral matters must be resolved directly between the two nations. Despite that, Trump has repeatedly offered to step in—not just with Pakistan, but also in India’s border tensions with China—offers that New Delhi has diplomatically but firmly declined.
Trump’s comments, while attention-grabbing, are likely to reignite debate over the actual role of the U.S. in South Asia’s peace processes and whether trade diplomacy really did curb the cycle of violence—or simply coincided with efforts already underway between the two countries themselves.
