Updated 29 May 2025 at 17:19 IST
New Delhi: India on Thursday once again rejected claims by the Donald Trump administration that threats of tariffs played a role in brokering a ceasefire between India and Pakistan earlier this month. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) clarified that during the talks held between May 7 and May 10 the period of Operation Sindoor and its subsequent cessation tariffs were never part of the conversation with the United States.
Responding to the US narrative, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated, “India's opposition to this particular issue is well articulated... From the time Operation Sindoor commenced on May 7 till the time of cessation on May 10, there was conversation between India and the US on the evolving military situation. The issue of tariffs never came up during the discussion.”
On May 23, the Trump administration, in a submission to the US Court of International Trade, claimed that President Trump’s intervention including promises of trade access helped avert a full-scale conflict between the two South Asian neighbors.
The claim appeared to be part of a legal strategy to defend the administration's sweeping tariff proposals.
While addressing, Jaiswal reiterated India's stand on Pakistan. “As far as our engagement with Pakistan is concerned, our stand has been clear. Any engagement has to be bilateral. We would like to reiterate that terrorism and talks cannot go together. They need to hand over to India, noted terrorists, whose records and list we submitted to them some years ago. Talks on J&K will be held only on the vacating of PoK and when Pakistan hands over the territory to us. As far as the Indus Water Treaty is concerned, it will remain in abeyance till the time Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support to cross-border terrorism. Just like PM Narendra Modi says, terror and talks cannot go together, terror and trade cannot go together, and water and blood cannot flow together,” he said.
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Published 29 May 2025 at 16:35 IST