Trump credits trade threats for averting India-Pakistan nuclear war
Donald Trump announced that, thanks to US mediation, a nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan was avoided. The US President emphasized that threats to halt trade with both countries played a key role.
What do you need to know?
- Donald Trump claims that his mediation helped stop a nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan. A key element was the threat to halt trade with both countries.
- The United States played an important role in achieving a full and permanent ceasefire between the warring nations.
- Pakistan's Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, praised Trump for his leadership, while Indian authorities minimized the US's role in the process.
President Donald Trump, during a press conference at the White House, emphasized that the United States played a key role in preventing a nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan.
— We stopped a nuclear conflict, I think it could have been a bad nuclear war, millions of people could have been killed, so I'm very proud of that, — said Trump.
Trump argued that he accomplished this, among other things, through threats to stop trading with both sides of the conflict.
— I said, come on, we're going to do a lot of trade with you guys, let's stop it, let's stop it. If you stop it, we'll do a trade. If you don't stop it, we're not going to do any trade — Trump recounted.
— People have never really used trade the way I used it. That I can tell you. And all of a sudden, they said, 'I think we're going to stop.' And they have. And they did it for a lot of reasons, but trade is a big one. We're going to do a lot of trade with Pakistan, we're going to do a lot of trade with India — Trump added.
Trump emphasized that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President J.D. Vance played an important role in the talks. Meanwhile, after reaching the agreement, Indian authorities minimized the US's role in the whole process, while Pakistan's Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, praised Trump and his leadership.
What led to the escalation of the conflict?
Armed clashes between India and Pakistan, both of which possess nuclear weapons, began on May 7th after India launched an attack on targets in Pakistan. This was in retaliation for a terrorist attack on April 22nd in Pahalgam, in the Indian part of Kashmir, which killed 26 people. Pakistan stated that it had nothing to do with the attack but responded with a series of strikes on targets in India. By Saturday, at least 66 people had died in the mutual shelling.
