NEW YORK/WASHINGTON, Oct 7: US President Donald Trump on Monday described his use of tariffs as a measure to stop wars, and said that his communication to India and Pakistan during the recent conflict was “very effective”, repeating his claim of ending the battle between the nuclear-armed neighbours using trade.
“Tariffs are very important for the United States. We are a peacekeeper because of tariffs. Not only do we make hundreds of billions of dollars, but we’re a peacekeeper because of tariffs,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Monday.
The US president said that if he did not use the “power of tariffs”, four wars would still be raging.
“I use tariffs to stop wars. If you look at India and Pakistan, they were ready to go at it. Seven planes were shot down. They were ready to go at it. And they are nuclear powers.
“And I don’t want to say exactly what I said, but what I said was very effective. They stopped. And that was based on tariffs. It was based on trade,” he said.
India has consistently denied any third-party intervention. 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.
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.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made it clear in Parliament that no leader of any country asked India to stop Operation Sindoor.
Mr. Trump has repeated several times that he ended seven wars in the second term of his administration so far, including 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, when Mr. 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.
The U.S. president added that of the seven wars he ended, at least half of them were because of his “ability at trade and because of tariffs. If I didn’t have tariffs to throw around a little bit, you would have at least four wars raging right now, with thousands of people a day being killed.” (Agencies)
