US President Donald Trump has again claimed that he has used tariffs as a tool to resolve several international conflicts, including the recent tensions between India and Pakistan.
His comments were made to reporters during a briefing aboard Air Force One.
“…I've settled some wars just on the basis of tariffs. For example, between India and Pakistan, I said, if you want to go to war and you have nuclear weapons, I'm going to impose high tariffs on both of you, like 100 percent, 150 percent and 200 percent…” the US president said.
Mr Trump explained that the threat to impose steep tariffs on both countries had quickly brought the situation under control. He reiterated his long-standing claims that he would broker peace between India and Pakistan during their conflict in May, stressing that the resolution was a direct result of his intervention.
He had previously made similar comments, for example during an interview on October 9, in which he explicitly linked the resolution of the conflict to his tariff strategy.
“I said I was putting tariffs on. I got that thing done in 24 hours. If I didn't have tariffs you could never have settled that war,” he added.
Building on this claim, Mr Trump claimed that the power to take trade measures brought peace worldwide, stating: “I have made seven peace agreements.”
“Not in all cases, but probably at least five of the seven (peace agreements) that we've made through trade so far have been that we're not going to deal with people who are fighting and we're going to put tariffs on you,” Trump said.
Tensions between India and Pakistan
On September 21, he even suggested that he should be honored with the Nobel Peace Prize for “ending seven wars,” citing the situation between India and Pakistan, and between Thailand and Cambodia, as examples of his success.
“Think about India and Pakistan. Think about that. And you know how I stopped that – with trade. They want to trade. And I have great respect for both leaders. But if you look at all these wars we have stopped,” he added.
However, India has consistently refuted the US president's claims of mediation. New Delhi maintains its long-held policy that any issue affecting the region, especially the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, should be addressed bilaterally by India and Pakistan alone.
