US President Donald Trump has claimed that he threatened to impose tariffs as high as 200 per cent on both India and Pakistan to end their military conflict earlier this year. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One while en route to Egypt for a Middle East peace summit, Trump said his use of trade pressure helped “settle” the war — one of the eight he claimed to have stopped — between the two nuclear-armed neighbours within 24 hours.
“I settled a few of the wars just based on tariffs. For example, between India and Pakistan. I said, If you guys want to fight a war and you have nuclear weapons, I am going to put big tariffs on you both, like 100 per cent, 150 per cent, and 200 per cent,” Trump said, as quoted by NDTV, while referring to the confrontation that followed Operation Sindoor.
“I said I am 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.
New Delhi rejects third party mediation claims
Trump’s comments come months after India and Pakistan announced a ceasefire in May 2025 following heightened tensions earlier in the year. India, however, has repeatedly denied that the United States had any role in mediating the truce. Officials in New Delhi maintain that the decision to pause hostilities was reached through direct talks between the military leadership of both sides, without any third-party involvement.
India has also dismissed earlier claims by Trump that his administration played a “monumental role” in bringing peace between the two countries.
‘I’m good at solving wars’
Trump, meanwhile, has continued to highlight his version of events in public remarks, saying his tariff threats were instrumental in stopping multiple conflicts worldwide. Speaking ahead of his trip to Israel and Egypt, he also claimed credit for resolving what he described as seven other global wars and suggested that the Gaza ceasefire could be his eighth.
“This will be my eighth war that I have solved, and I hear there is a war now going on between Pakistan and Afghanistan. I said, It’ll have to wait till I get back. I am doing another one. Because I am good at solving wars,” Trump said.
.@POTUS ahead of his trip to Israel: "This is going to be a very special time… Everybody's cheering at one time. That's never happened before… It's an honor to be involved — and we're going to have an amazing time." pic.twitter.com/lYhG94lxNM
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 12, 2025
The US president also spoke about his efforts to secure a truce between Israel and Hamas, calling his record on conflict resolution “pretty good” and linking it to his push for the Nobel Peace Prize.
“Think about some of the wars that were going on for years. We had one going for 31, one going for 32, and one going for 37 years, with millions of people being killed in every country, and I got every one of those done, for the most part, within a day. It’s pretty good… It’s an honour to do it. I saved millions of lives,” he said.
President Donald J. Trump departs for his historic trip to Israel & Egypt. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/FVi0EgCQcS
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) October 12, 2025
Addressing his Nobel Prize omission, Trump added, “In all fairness to the Nobel committee, it was for 2024. This was picked for 2024. But there are those who say you could make an exception because a lot of things happened during 2025 that are done and complete and great. But I did not do this for the Nobel. I did this to save lives.”
Trump’s remarks came as he prepared to attend a peace summit in Egypt, where leaders are expected to discuss the ongoing ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and plans for humanitarian and political arrangements in Gaza.
