Donald Trump praises PM Modi, says US doing a trade deal with India

Trump repeats claim of resolving India-Pakistan conflict

In his two speeches delivered over the course of Wednesday, first in Japan and then in South Korea, American President Donald Trump repeated his claim that India and Pakistan stopped their conflict only after he warned their respective leaderships that the United States (US) would stop trade with the two South Asian neighbours if they did not do so.

 

In his speech in Tokyo Trump, who is on a three-country visit to Asia, also claimed that “seven brand new” planes were shot down in the May 7-10 conflict.

 

In his speeches, the US President described Prime Minister Narendra Modi as someone for whom he has the greatest “respect and love”, the “nicest-looking guy”, a “killer” and “tough as hell” (he said this in Gyeongju, South Korea), and also seemed to imitate the Indian Prime Minister as he recounted their conversation, which, he claimed, eventually led to the cessation of hostilities between the two nuclear powers. He has a “great relationship” with Modi, he said.

 

While speaking at the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) CEO Summit in Gyeongju, Trump, recounting the events leading to the May 10 ceasefire, said: “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.”

 

He, however, did not elaborate on the subject of the trade deal, and shifted to his claims of resolving the conflict between India and Pakistan in early May.

 

The US President couldn’t remember the names of Pakistan’s Prime Minister and its army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, but described the latter as “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.

 

He landed in South Korea on Wednesday morning from Japan.

 

The US President said he discovered “Modi is tough as hell” when he urged that India and Pakistan should cease hostilities.

 

“No, we will fight,” Trump, imitating Modi, said of the Prime Minister’s response.

 

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

 

“They called and said ‘we understand’, and they stopped fighting. How is that? Isn’t that amazing? Now, you think (Joe) Biden would have done that?” Trump said.

 

However, hours earlier in Tokyo, Trump had said that he managed to get the conflict stopped in 24 hours.

 

The President is known to make inconsistent comments.

 

Trump said that India and Pakistan argued that war had 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.”

   

With inputs from agencies