‘200% Tariffs, 11 Jets Down’: Trump Inflates His Claim On India-Pak Ceasefire

Washington, Feb 20: US President Donald Trump reiterated his claim that he mediated between India and Pakistan during the 2025 military standoff, claiming he had threatened to put 200 per cent tariffs on the two nuclear-armed neighbours if they didn’t stop the fighting. Speaking at his Board of Peace event, Trump went a step further and claimed that “11 jets were shot down” during the fighting. India has consistently denied all claims about any third-party intervention or loss of planes during the military confrontation in May last year.

What Trump Said
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who also attended the Board of Peace event alongside leaders from other nations, faced an awkward moment when Trump asked him to stand up while discussing his so-called mediation skills. He said, “Pakistan and India. That was a big one. I think you (Sharif) should actually stand. Come, please, stand just for a second. Pakistan and India. Thank you very much.”

The US leader then repeated his assertion that Sharif had claimed Trump saved “25 million lives” by mediating a truce between New Delhi and Islamabad. “You made that statement,” Trump said to Sharif. “I said 25 million lives, could have been much more actually, but it was really a beautiful thing… That war was raging. Planes were being shot down, and it was Pakistan and India,” Trump said, inflating his earlier claim of saving “10 million lives by ending the conflict” between the two nations.

Trump claimed he used his tariff policy as leverage to mediate a peace deal and said, “I got on the phone with both of them, and I knew them a little bit. I knew Prime Minister Modi very well…I called them, and I said, listen, I’m not doing trade deals with you two guys if you don’t settle this up… And all of a sudden, we worked out a deal.”

“I said, if you fight, I’m going to put 200 per cent tariffs on each of your countries. They both wanted to fight. But when it came to money, it’s nothing like money. When it came to losing a lot of money, they said, I guess we don’t want to fight…11 jets were shot down. Very expensive jets,” he added. The US leader had earlier claimed seven jets were shot down during the conflict.