Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: He surely knows how to lose friends and make enemies! Nobody knows who his friend or foe will be the next day!
Two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that Operation Sindoor continues—only the cross-firing has been temporarily suspended—the highly controversial US President Donald Trump claimed on Thursday that the hostilities between India and Pakistan have been “settled” and even that India has offered “no tariffs” on American goods!
His claims came Pakistan-sponsored Islamists being killed daily in Jammu and Kashmir while intruding the border state, despite the April 10 ‘ceasefire’
On a whirlwind business tour to the Middle East this week, while addressing American troops at a military base in Qatar–where he got a guard of cames by camels, he unilaterally claimed that India and Pakistan are satisfied with the ‘ceasefire’ outcome after April 22 strikes, according to media reports.
He said both Pakistan and India were “pleased” with the outcome, noting that he had asked the two countries to prioritize trade over conflict.
Sensing that he is being ridiculed even at home for his wild claims, Trump continued: “I don’t want to say I did, but I sure as hell helped settle the problem between Pakistan and India last week, which was getting more and more hostile…“And all of a sudden, you’ll start seeing missiles of a different type.”
The situation had become very volatile, but was now, in his view, under control. “We got it settled—I hope. I hope I don’t walk out of here and two days later find out that it’s not settled, but I think it is settled.”
Focusing on his trade agenda, he reiterated that he had asked the two nations to focus on trade over conflict. “And we talked to them about trade. Let’s do trade instead of do war. And Pakistan was very happy with that, and India was very happy with that, and I think they’re on the way,” he said.
“We got that settled. Everybody was very happy. I’ll tell you, that looked like it was really going to be escalating out of control.”
India has repeatedly rejected the US President’s offers to mediate the ‘dispute’ with Pakistan over Jammu and Kashmir, asserting that New Delhi will talk only with Islamabad on the issues of state-sponsored terrorism and the return of the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
“That stated policy has not changed. As you are aware, the outstanding matter is the vacation of illegally occupied Indian territory by Pakistan,” the Ministry of External Affairs said on Tuesday.
Trump even claimed that New Delhi has proposed zero tariffs on American goods as part of efforts to strike a new trade agreement with Washington. Speaking at a business gathering in Qatar, he said India was “willing to literally charge us no tariff” on US exports, though he did not elaborate on the terms or sectors covered by the reported offer.
“They’ve offered us a deal where basically they’re willing to literally charge us no tariff… They’re the highest, and now they’re saying no tariff,” Trump said while commenting on Apple’s investment in India. The tech giant recently announced plans to manufacture in India all iPhones that will be sold in the US, marking a major manufacturing shift.
India’s apparent tariff concession comes amid efforts to secure a deal within a 90-day tariff pause window, which Trump had announced in April. India had been hit with a 26 percent tariff under his new tariff policy. India is reportedly looking to narrow the average tariff differential with the US from the earlier 13 percent to now less than 4 percent.
To arm-twist India, he also said he had urged Apple CEO Tim Cook not to expand the company’s manufacturing footprint in India. According to Trump, the discussion led Apple to increase its production investment in the United States instead, in addition to a USD 500 million investment in US operations.
“I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday,” Trump said. “I don’t want you building in India. You can build in India if you want to take care of India… But we want you to build here.”
The US President has long criticised India for its high import duties, ranging from one1 percent for raw materials and mineral fuels to as high as 100 percent on specific agricultural products, including dairy and meats. Automobiles are another sensitive area, with passenger vehicle imports facing duties of about 70 percent. Trump had announced a blanket 25 per cent tax on all auto and auto-part imports to the US.
He had also criticised India’s trade barriers during his first presidency. In 2019, his administration had even revoked India’s preferential trade status under the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP).
