Trump says "tariffs equal national security", repeats claims of settling India-Pakistan war 'solely on trade'

Washington DC [US], October 22 : US President Donald Trump has yet again made his claims of settling eight wars, reiterating his long-held belief that tariffs and trade had resolved five of them, including the May escalation between India and Pakistan.

Noting that the tariffs were a matter of national security, Trump on Tuesday (local time) repeated his claim about how he used the leverage of trade deals to avert what he termed a potential "nuclear disaster" in South Asia.

"I mentioned eight wars, nine coming. Of the eight, five were based solely on trade and tariffs. India-Pakistan were going at it. Two nuclear powers and serious nuclear. Seven planes were shot down. They were ready to go, and I called them up. I said, 'You go to war and we're not doing a trade deal,'" Trump said during a lunch with Senate Republicans at the newly renovated Rose Garden of the White House.

He claimed that both countries questioned the relevance of trade in the context of a military standoff, to which he responded, "'It has a lot. You are nuclear powers, and if you do it, we're not doing a trade deal.' 24 hours later, they called me. 'We have decided not to do it.'"

"We stopped the war. We stopped a potential disaster, a nuclear disaster, because of trade," he asserted.

Trump's comments on the India-Pakistan conflict refer to the escalation in May following India's Operation Sindoor, a series of precision strikes on nine terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians.

Continuing his strong defence of tariffs, Trump told the Republican lawmakers that tariffs are not only an economic tool but a strategic one.

"Tariffs equal national security. Remember that. Tariffs equal national security," he said, repeating the phrase for emphasis.

"They also equal wealth for our nation because we've taken in hundreds of billions of dollars in a friendly manner, given to us by nations that used to take it from us, and they use tariffs on us; we never use tariffs on them because we were foolish," he added.

He further claimed that tariffs had made the US "a wealthy country", enabling it to support defence and global security initiatives.

"The tariffs have made us a wealthy country. They've given us tremendous defence; they've given us things we can do for other countries... Really, it's national security; it's national defence," Trump stated.

The US President had been repeating his claims of playing a key role in helping de-escalate tensions between India and Pakistan, based on the argument that trade and tariffs were instrumental for the US in preventing conflicts.

India has consistently refuted the claims made by Trump, reiterating its long-standing position that any issues with Pakistan, including those related to Jammu and Kashmir, are to be resolved bilaterally between the two countries.

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