U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday reiterated that his administration played a key role in brokering a ceasefire between Pakistan and India, as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeared to contradict him in a televised address.
In a press interaction at the White House, Trump said Washington was prepared to support both nations following their recent ceasefire agreement. “They were going at it hot and heavy, and it was seemingly not going to stop,” he said. “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’ll do a trade. If you don’t stop it, we’re not going to do any trade,” he said.
Stressing the role of economic incentives in achieving peace, he said no one had “really used trade” in the manner he was. “And all of a sudden, they said, I think we’re going to stop. And they have,” he said. “They did it for a lot of reasons, but trade is a big one. We’re going to do a lot of trade with Pakistan, we’re going to do a lot of trade with India,” he added.
“We stopped a nuclear conflict, I think it could have been a bad nuclear war. Millions of people could have been killed, so I’m very proud of that,” he maintained. “I also want to thank VP JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for their work,” he added.
Pakistan and India were on the brink of war last week when Trump posted on social media that his administration had negotiated a ceasefire. While Pakistan has welcomed his announcement, India has sought to claim that Islamabad sought the ceasefire directly. Modi appeared to reaffirm this stance in his first address to his country since India struck six cities in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir on May 6.
Underplaying the role of foreign mediators, the Indian prime minister said his country’s military aggression was on pause, not concluded. “We have just postponed our retaliatory action on Pakistan’s terrorist and military bases,” he said. “In the coming days, we will measure every step of Pakistan on the basis of what attitude it adopts,” he said, vowing to respond strongly to any future “terrorist attack.”
He also warned that India would not succumb to “nuclear blackmail” after any future provocations.
Lamenting that Pakistan had attacked India rather than “helping it fight terrorism,” he said Delhi’s stance was clear: “Terror and talks cannot go together… Terror and trade cannot go together… Water and blood cannot flow together.”