Washington (TDI): United States President Donald Trump has described Pakistanis as “brilliant people” and expressed a strong desire to increase bilateral trade, while claiming credit for averting what he called a near-nuclear conflict between Pakistan and India.
In an interview with Fox News, the US President stated that his intervention helped pull the two nuclear-armed nations back from the brink of war after a period of intense military stand-off.
“That was going to be a nuclear war, I think, or close… And now everyone’s happy,” Trump said, referring to tensions between Islamabad and New Delhi. “Missiles were being fired, retaliation was underway, and both countries were escalating rapidly.”
He attributed the de-escalation to his administration’s behind-the-scenes diplomacy and emphasized that promoting trade with both nations was central to his peace-building approach.
“I told my team, get them on the phone—let’s begin trading right away,” he said.
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Trump added that he had “great talks” with Pakistani leadership, expressing hope about future collaboration. “They would love to trade. They are brilliant people and produce incredible goods. But we hardly trade with them,” he said.
Trump further mentioned that despite positive ties, trade between the United States and Pakistan remains limited.
He also criticized India’s economic policies, terming it “the country with the highest tariffs in the world.” However, he acknowledged that New Delhi had shown willingness to cut levies in its trade dealings with the US.
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India almost makes trade impossible. “Do you know that they’re ready to slash 100% of their tariffs for US?”, he said.
Trump termed his diplomatic efforts as one of the most notable achievements of his presidency.
“A bigger success than I will ever be given credit for,” he said. “Those are big nuclear powers. Those are not just minor powers and they were furious,” he said.
Reflecting on the gravity of the situation, the US President described the standoff as dangerously close to triggering a nuclear war.
Farkhund Yousafzai is an Associate Editor at The Diplomatic Insight.
