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After 'Mr Prime Minister...' gift for Modi, Trump stresses '200% tariff' threat ‘stopped India-Pak war’
Tariff threat redux comes just two days after Trump sent Modi a framed photo of the two of them with a handwritten message: “Mr Prime Minister, you are great!"
It was the 50th time, said some who've been keeping count, when US President Donald Trump claimed yet again that he got an India-Pakistan war, potentially nuclear, stopped back in May. He was on his way to Israel as part of his intervention for a ceasefire in Gaza.
For Trump it was in line with the theme of the day — his peacemaking efforts — but it showed yet again his varied stances on India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The tariff threat redux comes just a couple of days after Trump sent Modi a framed photo of the two of them with a handwritten message: “Mr Prime Minister, you are great!”
He made the India-Pakistan remark while speaking to reporters as he took a flight on Sunday.
The question was about China's stance against the recent 100 per cent additional tariffs he's put on the country.
He replied: “We are taking in hundreds of billions of dollars, not only from China, from other countries. We become a wealthy country again. And the tariffs have given us diplomatic strength. They've given us negotiating strength.”
And then he meandered into India and Pakistan.
“I settled a few of the wars just based on tariffs. As an example, with India and with Pakistan, I said, 'If you guys want to fight a war — and you have nuclear weapons! — I'm going to put big tariffs on you both, like 100%, 150, and 200%.' (They said:) 'No, no, no, don't do that.' I said, 'I'm putting tariffs.' I had that thing settled in 24 hours. If I didn't have tariffs, you could have never settled that war,” he added.
India has been firm in its stance — though measured in tone — in denying any third-party mediation affecting its ceasefire decision in Operation Sindoor, which it carried out in response to a terror attack in Kashmir.
But Trump has kept up with the claim as it was also one of his pitches for the Nobel Peace Prize, which he did not get. Reports suggested India's refusal to play ball on this angered him and was a factor in his decision to put 50% tariffs despite repeatedly calling PM Modi his “great” and “personal” friend.
Even at the UN in September, he referred to India and China as “primary funders” of Russia's war in Ukraine — half of the tariffs on India are termed “penalty” or “sanctions” for Delhi's oil deals with Moscow. He also repeated his ceasefire claim, part of his claim of having ended several wars.
The same month, Trump called Modi up to wish him a happy 75th birthday. The two leaders also exchanged some mutual admiration on social media days before that.
Talks for a trade deal resumed after hiccups due to the tariffs; and are likely to go into a sixth round mid-October.
Yet, Trump's commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and adviser Peter Navarro stayed aggressive, demanding that India open up its market for a deal to go through. India's foreign minister S Jaishankar clearly stated that the country has “red lines” around its farm and dairy sectors.
Trump, too, has been oscillating between asking Europe also to put sanctions on Russian-oil buyers like India, and insisting that he is “very close" to Modi. "But I sanctioned them (India),” Trump added in one of his statements last month.
In between, he also imposed a fee of $100,000 for H-1B visas, used mostly by Indian techies to work in the US, effectively killing the programme.
Modi has avoided confrontation and responded via diplomatic progress and by promoting “swadeshi" (made-in-India) goods.
September began with Trump bursting out against Modi's meetings with Russia's Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping in Tianjin during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit. He said, “We’ve lost India and Russia to China."
October was slightly different. Modi praised Trump's Gaza peace plan in a phone call. US ambassador-designate Sergio Gor met Modi on Saturday, October 11, and he carried with him the framed photo of the two leaders, with Trump's handwritten message and signatures on it.
Two days later, Trump has renewed his ceasefire mediation claim.
