Claiming again to have stopped Pakistan and India from fighting, US President Donald Trump has said that representatives from Pakistan are coming to the United States next week as Islamabad seeks to make a deal on tariffs, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
Addressing a news conference at his Oval Office on Friday with Elon Musk, President Trump said again that he stopped Pakistan and India from fighting and that he told both countries that Washington cannot trade with nations that are in conflict. “We stopped India and Pakistan from fighting. I believe that could have turned into a nuclear disaster,” Trump said.
Trump said he wanted “to thank the leaders of India, leaders of Pakistan and I want to thank my people also. We talked trade and we said we can’t trade with people who are shooting at each other and potentially using nuclear weapons.”
While claiming credit for having brokered a truce deal between the two countries, Trump also thanked the leaders of both countries for their roles in de-escalating the situation.
He said that leaders in India and Pakistan are "great leaders" and "they understood, and they agreed, and that all stopped." Highlighting concerns around trade, Trump noted: “We talked trade and we said 'we can’t trade with people who are shooting at each other and potentially using nuclear weapons'."
Trump further said that the US is also stopping others from fighting. “We are stopping others from fighting also, because ultimately, we can fight better than anybody. We have the greatest military in the world. We have the greatest leaders in the world."
However, India has repeatedly denied claims of any third-party involvement in the truce deal with Pakistan, while adding it has no connection to trade negotiations.
Later talking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Washington, President Trump said representatives from Pakistan are coming to the United States next week as the South Asian country seeks to make a deal on tariffs.
Trump said he would have no interest in making a deal with the South Asian country or its neighbour, India, if they were to engage in war with each other.
"As you know, we're very close making a deal with India," Trump said.
Pakistan faces a potential 29 percent tariff on its exports to the US due to a $3 billion trade surplus with the world’s biggest economy, under tariffs announced by Washington last month on countries around the world.
Pakistan’s formal negotiations with the United States on reciprocal tariffs started earlier with a phone call between Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, a press release from the finance ministry issued in Islamabad said.
It may be mentioned here that a high-level political delegation headed by PPP Chairman and former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will arrive in New York on June 2 on an official visit aimed at projecting Pakistan’s narrative against India in the recent military clash between both countries in the aftermath of Pahalgam attack.
The other members of the delegation include PPP Senator Sherry Rehman, Federal Minister Musadik Malik, PML-N senior leader Khurram Dastgir Khan, former Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, former foreign secretaries Jalil Abbas Jilani and Tehmina Janjua.
The delegation will spend two days in New York where they will meet UN officials as well as international media. The delegation will arrive in the US capital on 3rd June where they will begin their official meetings on 4th June with US congressmen, think tanks, Washington-based American and international media as well as several meetings with different segments of American society at Pakistan Embassy.