Trade didn’t figure in talks: MEA rebuts Trump claim in NY court on truce bait

After the Trump administration claimed in a New York court that India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire under a “tariff and trade threat”, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) today firmly rejected the claim, saying that at no point during Operation Sindoor was trade discussed between India and the US.

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MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated this while answering queries from mediapersons. He said during Operation Sindoor, there were conversations between Indian and US leaders on the evolving military situation.

“The issue of trade or tariff did not come up in any of those discussions,” Jaiswal said.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has also made it clear that the cessation of firing was decided upon through direct contact between the DGMOs of India and Pakistan.

Asked that the US was saying this on record under oath, and it’s a statement that could invite perjury if it wasn’t true, Jaiswal said, “I have stated my position and when I state my position, I do it as the spokesperson for the MEA. That has an implication, it means a lot.”

The Trump administration had told a New York court that India and Pakistan reached a “tenuous ceasefire” only after President Donald Trump “interceded and offered both nations trading access with the US to avert a full-scale war”.

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick made the remarks in a submission to the Court of International Trade last week, arguing that Trump used his emergency powers under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose tariffs aimed at protecting US national security and economy.

Lutnick said the maintenance of tariffs was crucial to the President’s ability to conduct real-world diplomacy.

A federal court on Wednesday blocked Trump from imposing sweeping tariffs on imports under an emergency-powers law.