Washington DC [US], May 14 : In an interview to Fox News' Sean Hannity aboard Air Force 1, US President Donald Trump said that he convinced India and Pakistan to go for a peace deal and pitched trade deals to the two countries. He underscored that trade deals are "much better" than nuclear weapons.
"I think we convinced them (India and Pakistan) to let's have peace and let's go and make trade deals. If we can make trade deals, we like that much better than nuclear weapons and that was a good thing
Trump made the remarks answering to a question to Hannity where the latter listed down achievements of American Foreign Policy in the last one week.
Donald Trump also remarked, "I don't think there has been a period like this, with a potential nuclear war and two countries they have very good leaders, people I know very well. It was a very important process we got involved with India and Pakistan".
On Tuesday evening, the spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, Randhir Jaiswal however noted that no trade discussions took place between the two countries.
Answering a query, he said there were conversations between Indian and US leaders on the evolving military situation from the time Operation Sindoor commenced but trade did not come up in any of these discussions.
"From the time Operation Sindoor commenced on May 7 till the understanding on cessation of firing and military action on 10th May, there were conversations between Indian and US leaders on the evolving military situation. The issue of trade did not come up in any of these discussions," he said.
US President Donald Trump has said on Monday also that his administration played a crucial role in brokering an immediate cessation of hostilities between India and Pakistan, following escalating tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
"We stopped a nuclear conflict. I think it could have been a bad nuclear war. Millions of people could have been killed. I also want to thank VP JD Vance and Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, for their work. On Saturday, my administration helped broker an immediate cessation of hostilities, I think a permanent one between India and Pakistan the countries having a lot of nuclear weapons," Trump told the media.
"I'm very proud to let you know that the leadership of India and Pakistan was unwavering and powerful... And we helped a lot, and we also helped with trade. 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're doing trade. If you don't stop it, we're not going to do any trade," he added.
India's precision strikes on terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and PoJK came in response to the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people were killed. The government had said that the perpetrators will face severe punishment and over 100 terrorists were killed in Operation Sindoor.
Indian Armed Forces effectively repelled Pakistan's subsequent military aggression and pounded several airbases in Pakistan.
The two countries have now reached an understanding to stop firing and military action after Pakistan DGMO reached out to his Indian counterpart, however they have said that the understanding has been reached bilaterally.
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