Sharm El-Sheikh (Egypt): US President Donald Trump electrified the Gaza Peace Summit on Monday with statements on regional peace, diplomacy and India-Pakistan relations. Standing before a gathering of world leaders, he expressed optimism that the two nuclear neighbours “are going to live very nicely together”.
#WATCH | Egypt | US President Donald Trump says, “India is a great country with a very good friend of mine at the top and he has done a fantastic job. I think that Pakistan and India are going to live very nicely together…”
(Video source: The White House/YouTube) pic.twitter.com/rROPW57GCO
— ANI (@ANI) October 13, 2025
“India is a great country with a very good friend of mine at the top and he has done a fantastic job. I think that Pakistan and India are going to live very nicely together,” he said.
The remarks came against the backdrop of a tense year between India and Pakistan. Earlier, on April 22, 26 tourists, including 25 Indian nationals and a Nepalese citizen, lost their lives in the Pahalgam terror attack, carried out by Pakistan-backed extremists.
In response, the Indian armed forces launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terror camps operated by the Jaish-e-Mohammed and the Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir. The strikes neutralised key targets and repelled further escalation.
Trump claimed his administration had played a decisive role in bringing the countries to the negotiating table. “…I settled a few of the wars just based on tariffs. For example, between India and Pakistan, I said, if you guys want to fight a war and you have nuclear weapons. I am going to put big tariffs on you both, like 100 per cent, 150 per cent and 200 per cent,” he said aboard Air Force One the day before the summit.
#WATCH | “…I settled a few of the wars just based on tariffs. For example, between India and Pakistan, I said, if you guys want to fight a war and you have nuclear weapons. I am going to put big tariffs on you both, like 100 per cent, 150 per cent, and 200 per cent…I said I… https://t.co/UejAFkcB0H pic.twitter.com/B5Zb7AjYTU
— ANI (@ANI) October 13, 2025
He added, “I said I am putting tariffs. I had that thing settled in 24 hours. If I did not have tariffs, you could have never settled that war.”
He repeated the claim during a Fox News interview on October 9, asserting that trade pressure had been a tool in at least five of the seven peace deals his administration brokered.
“You look at India and Pakistan. I said well we are not going to do business with either of you if you do not put it together. These are two nuclear nations. Seven planes were shot down as you know and they were really at it. I said we are not going to do any business with you, we are going to put massive tariffs on you and in both cases they said, well we are going to start talking about it. There is tremendous amounts of money and power and within 24 hours I had a peace deal that they stopped the fighting,” Trump said during the interview.
He has repeatedly described himself as a dealmaker. “Having the ability to use tariffs have brought peace to the world… You know I made seven peace deals. Think of India and Pakistan. Think of that. And you know how I stopped that with trade. They want to trade. And I have great respect for both leaders,” he claimed.
Earlier, on September 21, he suggested he should be considered for the Nobel Peace Prize, citing the resolution of conflicts including India-Pakistan, Thailand-Cambodia and others.
“We are forging peace agreements, and we are stopping wars. So we stopped wars between India and Pakistan, Thailand and Cambodia,” Trump said at the American Cornerstone Institute Founder’s Dinner.
India, however, has repeatedly refuted Trump’s claims, stating that the ceasefire was reached bilaterally after Islamabad reached out to New Delhi, with no third-party intervention.
Trump’s statements at the Gaza Peace Summit marked another dramatic display of his approach to global diplomacy: high-stakes, unconventional and unapologetically public, blending trade, politics and spectacle into what he describes as a formula for peace.