U.S. President Donald Trump has once again insisted that he personally defused tensions between India and Pakistan earlier this year, claiming he threatened both nations with 350 per cent tariffs and received phone calls from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanking him for preventing a potential conflict. India, however, has repeatedly denied any foreign mediation in its dealings with Pakistan.
Speaking at the U.S.–Saudi Investment Forum in Washington, Trump said he intervened in what he described as a looming nuclear confrontation between the two neighbours. “India, Pakistan… they were going to go at it, nuclear weapons,” he said, adding that he told both countries he would halt all trade with the United States unless they backed down.
According to Trump, both governments urged him not to impose the punitive tariffs, but he pressed ahead with the threat. “I said, ‘I’m going to do it. Come back to me and I’ll take it down. But I’m not going to have you guys shooting nuclear weapons at each other, killing millions of people and having nuclear dust floating over Los Angeles.’”
Trump claimed Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked him personally “for saving millions of lives,” and then said he received a call from Prime Minister Modi. “He said, ‘We’re done.’ I said, ‘Done with what?’ He said, ‘We’re not going to go to war.’ And I said, ‘Thank you very much. Let’s make a deal.’”
The U.S. president suggested he used tariffs to resolve several global disputes, claiming that “five of the eight” international conflicts he referenced were settled because of economic pressure.
Trump has repeated variations of this claim more than 60 times since May 10, when he announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire following what he described as a “long night” of U.S.-mediated negotiations.
India has firmly rejected this account. New Delhi maintains that the ceasefire understanding was reached directly between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of India and Pakistan on May 10, without involvement from any third party. India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir after the Pahalgam attack, which killed 26 civilians.
Despite India’s consistent position, Trump repeated his version of events again this week—most recently during a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House—insisting he “saved millions of people” by preventing what he describes as a near-war scenario.