New Delhi: US president Donald Trump has once again repeated the claim that he used trade to bring tensions down between India and Pakistan in May. This time, he said that he used the threat of a 250% tariff imposition with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistan prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, adding that seven planes were "shot down" in the strikes and counter-strikes.

Speaking during an address on October 28 in South Korea ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit,  Trump said that the US is "doing" a new trade deal with India, laying out the background of a claim he has repeated upwards of 50 times now.

"So I'm doing a trade deal with India and I have great respect and love, as you know, for Prime Minister Modi, we have a great relationship. Likewise, the Prime Minister of Pakistan is a great guy. And the field marshal...They have a field marshal. You know why he's a field marshal? He's a great fighter. He really is. He's a great guy too. And so I know them all."

Trump then narrated what was his version of the events following Operation Sindoor – India's strikes on terror bases in Pakistan following the terror strike in Kashmir's Pahalgam that killed 26 civilians.

"And I'm reading that seven planes were shot down. They're going at it and they're really starting to go, and it's a big thing. These are two nuclear nations, and they're really going at it. And I called Prime Minister Modi. I said, we can't make a trade deal with you."

Trump then continued, ostensibly quoting Modi:

"'No, no, we must make a trade deal'."

He then said that he also called Pakistan after saying no to India.

"I said no we can't. 'You're starting a war with Pakistan.' We're not going to do it. And then I called Pakistan. I said, 'We're not going to do trade with you because you're fighting with India,' and you know two nuclear nations, and they said, 'No, no, no, you should let us fight.' They both said that you know they're warring. They're strong people. I'll tell you what."

Trump then launched into a description of Modi that has been quoted by several news outlets now.

"Prime Minister Modi is the nicest looking guy. He says, 'Oh'. And he looks like you'd like to have your father...like he's a killer. He's tough as hell. 'No, we will fight.' I said, 'Whoa, this is the same man that I know?'."

Trump claimed this time that India and Pakistan called him up after two days of the initial call. He then said, to applause:

"But after a little while, and they're good people and after literally 2 days, they called up and they said, we understand and they stopped fighting. How is that? Isn't that amazing? Now, you think Biden would have done that?"

"I don't think so. Most people wouldn't have thought of it, but you know. They wouldn't have thought of it. No, but here we are, we're doing deals. So you add an extra sentence and you say you have to stop shooting at each other. Seven planes were shot down. You have to stop the war. And they stopped the war."

India has consistently denied any third-party intervention in the process of striking peace with Pakistan. Modi has said that no foreign leader asked India to halt Operation Sindoor.

He added that he quoted an extraordinary tariff percentage to achieve piece in May.

"And if it wasn't for the tariffs...I said I was going to put 250% tariffs on each country, which means that you'll never do business. In other words, there's nothing you can sell for 250%. That means, that's a nice way of saying we don't want to do business with you. You don't have to say that because that's a nasty...'We don't want to do business.' No, you say, 'We're going to put 250% tariffs if you don't stop the war,' and they understood that and within 48 hours we had no war and no people killed. I mean, it's...makes me feel so good. We saved millions and millions of lives with all of them."

He also referred to Azerbaijan and said that he was congratulated by Russian president Vladimir Putin in getting the war stopped. "Thirty eight years it went on, millions of people killed, and we got it done and the two countries came in and they, they were in the White House and they started off here. And they got closer, closer, closer, closer. After an hour they were hugging each other in peace," he said.

Opposition reaction

Leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress politician Rahul Gandhi said on X, "Trump is insulting Modi in country after country. Latest is South Korea."

Gandhi then wrote essaying what Trump has said in his speech:

"1. Repeated that he used trade to frighten Modi into stopping Operation Sindoor.

"2. Said 7 planes were shot down.

"Don’t be scared Modi ji, find the courage to respond."

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