‘11 Jets Down, 200% Tariff Threat’: Trump on India-Pak Ceasefire

US President Donald Trump has once again claimed that he personally intervened to stop last year’s military standoff between India and Pakistan, saying he threatened both countries with 200 per cent tariffs if they did not halt the fighting.

Speaking at a “Board of Peace” event, Trump said he got on the phone with leaders of both nations and warned them that trade deals would be off the table if hostilities continued. “I said, if you fight, I’m going to put 200 per cent tariffs on each of your countries,” he said. “They both wanted to fight. But when it came to money… they said, I guess we don’t want to fight.”

Trump also escalated his earlier claims about the scale of the conflict, stating that “11 jets were shot down” during the fighting. Over the past year, he has repeatedly changed the number of aircraft allegedly lost, earlier citing figures ranging from five to ten.

At the event, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was present when Trump invited him to stand up while recounting his version of events. Trump said Sharif had once told him he had saved “25 million lives” by helping broker peace between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

India, however, has consistently rejected any suggestion of third-party mediation. New Delhi has maintained that the understanding to stop hostilities in May 2025 came after direct talks between the two countries’ military leadership.

The conflict followed India’s launch of Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The operation was carried out in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians.

While India has acknowledged that there were losses during the confrontation, it has not confirmed the number of aircraft involved. The Indian Air Force has stated that no pilot was killed in action.

Trump’s latest remarks add to a long list of similar claims he has made in recent months. He has said multiple times that he “stopped” the India-Pakistan conflict and other global tensions during his second term.

However, India’s position remains unchanged that the ceasefire understanding was reached through direct military communication, not outside intervention.

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