‘India-Pakistan did not go to war due to fear of 200 percent tariff’

US President Donald Trump has once again made a controversial claim in the context of the 2025 military tension between India and Pakistan.

While speaking at the ‘Board of Peace’ event in Washington on Thursday (February 19), he claimed that he had threatened to impose 200 percent import tariffs on both countries last year to stop the war between the two nuclear-armed countries. In Trump’s words, there is nothing bigger than money; when they saw that a lot of money would be lost, they agreed to stop the war.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif was present at the event. Trump created an embarrassing situation by requesting him to stand up and pay respect and claimed that Shahbaz Sharif himself had told him that Trump’s mediation had saved at least 25 million (25 million) lives.

Trump also said that at least 11 very expensive warplanes of the two countries were shot down during the war. It is worth noting that Trump has repeatedly changed this number—first 5, then 8, 10, and now he is claiming that 11 planes were shot down.

However, India has been directly rejecting Trump's claim of mediation from the beginning. New Delhi has made it clear that the ceasefire that took place after 'Operation Sindoor' in May 2025 was the result of direct talks between the Director Generals of Military Operations of the two countries, and not the intervention of any third party. The Indian Air Force also does not agree with Trump's number of planes shot down and has not confirmed the death of any pilot.

The tension began when India launched an airstrike in Pakistan called 'Operation Sindoor' after a terrorist attack in Pahalgam, India, on May 7, 2025. Trump claims that he was also in regular contact with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and that the two countries withdrew from the war under his pressure.

However, international analysts and Indian diplomats see Trump's exaggerated claim as part of his own campaign.

Source: NDTV.