NK MONITORING DESK
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has once again asserted that he personally prevented a catastrophic nuclear clash between Pakistan and India—this time crediting the threat of a sweeping 350% tariff for defusing the situation.
Speaking at a Saudi Arabia investment conference, Trump revisited what has become one of his recurring stories: that only his intervention stopped South Asia from tipping into a conflict that, in his words, could have “wiped out millions.”
Trump told the audience that he had warned both Islamabad and New Delhi that if they escalated towards a nuclear exchange, Washington would respond by slapping an extraordinary tariff on each country.
“I told them, ‘Go ahead if you want, but be ready for a 350% tariff,’” he said, adding that he wasn’t willing to let “nuclear dust float over Los Angeles” because of their dispute.
According to Trump, both governments objected, but he insisted he stood his ground. He also recounted a conversation in which Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif allegedly thanked him for averting a major disaster. “He said I saved millions of lives,” Trump claimed, noting that one of his longtime advisers, Susie, heard the praise firsthand.
Trump said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also called soon after with a message implying the crisis had passed: “We’re done. We’re not going to war.”
The remarks drew attention in Pakistan not only for their dramatic portrayal of a near-nuclear crisis, but because Trump rarely speaks so directly about behind-the-scenes exchanges with Islamabad.
During the same address, Trump wandered into other geopolitical anecdotes—including one about Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman urging him to handle the Sudan issue, which Trump said he hadn’t even planned to engage with. Still, he used the speech to highlight his belief in economic pressure as a conflict-management tool, asserting that most of the global disputes he intervened in were settled through trade leverage.
“This is how five out of the eight got resolved,” he said, repeating his long-running claim that he halted multiple wars during his presidency.
Trump had made a similar statement just a day earlier while appearing alongside the Saudi crown prince at the White House, declaring once again that he had “stopped eight wars,” including preventing hostilities between Pakistan and India from erupting again.
Read more: https://nayakashmir.com/trump-suggests-he-averted-another-potential-conflict-between-pakistan-and-india/
