Trump calls Modi ‘tough as hell’; reclaims credit for India-Pak truce

Donald Trump, while praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi as ‘tough as hell’, claimed he stopped a recent India-Pakistan conflict by threatening to withhold trade deals. Speaking in South Korea and Japan, the US President repeated inconsistent accounts of his supposed role in ending hostilities

Tokyo/Seoul: On the one hand, he praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the “nicest looking guy”, a “killer” and “tough as hell”. But in the same breath, Donald Trump once again waded into India-Pakistan conflict by claiming he stopped their recent military hostilities.

A few hours earlier, the US President also claimed that “seven brand new” planes were shot down in the May 7-10 Operation Sindoor.

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“Prime Minister Modi is the nicest looking guy … he looks like you’d like to have your father like… he’s a killer… he’s tough as hell,” Trump said while speaking at the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) CEO Summit in Gyeongju, South Korea.

He landed in South Korea Wednesday morning from Japan as part of three-nation tour of Asia.

While emphasising that he has a “great relationship” with Modi, Trump reiterated that he used trade to resolve the war between India and Pakistan.

“I called Prime Minister Modi. I said, we can’t make a trade deal with you… (He said) No, no, we must make a trade… I said, No, we can’t. You are starting a war with Pakistan. We’re not going to do it,” Trump said.

He also praised Pakistan army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, calling him “a great fighter” and “a great guy”. “Then I called Pakistan. I said, we’re not going to do trade with you because you’re fighting with India and you know, two nuclear nations. And they said, no, no, no, you should let us fight. They both said that,” he added.

Trump claimed that the leaders of both India and Pakistan called him after two days and stopped fighting.

“After literally two days, they called up, they said, we understand, and they stopped fighting. How is that? Isn’t that amazing? Now, you think Biden would have done that?” Trump said.

However, hours earlier in Tokyo, Trump had said that he managed to get the war stopped in 24 hours. The US President is known to make inconsistent comments.

In Tokyo, while speaking at a reception and dinner with business leaders on Tuesday, Trump said: “Seven planes were shot down, seven brand new, beautiful planes were shot down, and they were going at it … two big nuclear powers.” He added that he told Modi — “a very nice man, a very good man, and the Field Marshal over in Pakistan, I said, ‘Look, we’re not going to do any trade if you’re going to be fighting,’” Trump said.

Trump said that India and Pakistan argued that war has nothing to do with trade with the US.

“(They said) one thing has nothing to do with the other. I said this, it has a lot to do with the other …two nuclear powers…we get that nuclear dust all over the place. All of you are affected, right? And we said, No, we’re not doing any deals if you’re going to fight. And within about 24 hours, that was the end of that. It was amazing, actually,” the US President said.

Since May 10, when Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire after a “long night” of talks mediated by Washington, he has repeated his claim dozens of times that he “helped settle” the conflict between India and Pakistan.

India has consistently maintained that the understanding on cessation of hostilities with Pakistan was reached following direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two militaries.