Trump used offers of trade access to broker Indo-Pak ceasefire, claims U.S. Commerce Secretary

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick claimed that the ceasefire between India and Pakistan was “only achieved” after Donald Trump stepped in and supplied each nations buying and selling access to the U.S. so as to “avert a full-scale war”. File
| Photo Credit: AP

The U.S. authorities has, for the primary time, placed on file in a courtroom submission its declare that the ceasefire between India and Pakistan, following India’s Operation Sindoor, was “only achieved” after U.S. President Donald Trump stepped in and supplied each nations buying and selling access to the U.S. so as to “avert a full-scale war”.

This comes about two weeks after External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal on May 13 formally clarified that whereas there have been “conversations” between Indian and U.S. leaders between May 7 — when Operation Sindoor commenced — and May 10, “the issue of trade did not come up in any of these discussions”.

Mr. Jaiswal had added that the ceasefire had been solid by “direct contact”, not through U.S. mediation. He was reacting to Mr. Trump’s feedback a day earlier saying that India and Pakistan had ended hostilities for lots of causes, however “trade was the big one”.

The on-record submission to the United States Court of International Trade was made on May 23 by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and three different officers of the Trump administration.

Tariffs and nationwide safety

They had been talking of their defence in opposition to a lawsuit filed by small U.S.-based corporations difficult the ten% world tariffs Mr. Trump had imposed on almost all imports. In the submission, Mr. Lutnick argued that the flexibility to impose such tariffs was a “cornerstone” of the U.S. nationwide safety structure.

“For example, India and Pakistan — two nuclear powers engaged in combat operations just 13 days ago — reached a tenuous ceasefire on May 10, 2025,” Mr. Lutnick famous. “This ceasefire was only achieved after President Trump interceded and offered both nations trading access with the United States to avert a full-scale war.”

“An adverse ruling that constrains presidential power in this case could lead India and Pakistan to question the validity of President Trump’s offer, threatening the security of an entire region and the lives of millions,” he added.

When requested about this newest doc filed within the U.S. Court of International Trade, Mr. Jaiswal stated that the Indian authorities had made its stand on the ceasefire amply clear within the briefing on May 13.

Trade talks at superior stage

These U.S. authorities statements about trade access come at a time when India and the U.S. have reached the superior stage of negotiations for some kind of trade deal by July 9 — the deadline for the 90-day pause Mr. Trump had offered on his world retaliatory tariffs.

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal returned final weekend from a week-long journey to the U.S. the place he met Mr. Lutnick twice within the course of the negotiations over the trade deal. U.S. authorities officers are anticipated to now journey to India to proceed the negotiations over the subsequent few weeks.

The two nations are additionally concerned in an ongoing tussle on the World Trade Organization (WTO). While India has knowledgeable the WTO that it reserves the best to impose reciprocal tariffs on the U.S. in response to that nation’s elevated import duties on metal and aluminium, the U.S. has maintained that these duties are a matter of nationwide safety and can’t be contested on the WTO.