After pulling off ceasefire: Trump suggests dinner meet for Pakistan-India officials

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump, on Tuesday, reiterated the US’ role in brokering peace between India and Pakistan, saying he told the two sides to “not trade nuclear missiles (and) trade the things that you make so beautifully”.

President Trump is in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on his first visit to a three-leg West Asia tour and his first major foreign policy visit abroad after returning to the White House for a non-consecutive second term.

“Days ago, my administration successfully brokered a historic ceasefire to stop the escalating violence between India and Pakistan,” he said in a major foreign policy speech with the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in the audience.

“I used trade, to a large extent, to help achieve it. I said, “Fellas, come on — let’s make a deal. Let’s do some trading. Let’s not trade nuclear missiles; let’s trade the things you make so beautifully.

“And I think they’re getting along. Maybe we can even get them together for a nice dinner. Wouldn’t that be nice? We’ve come a long way. That conflict could have resulted in millions of lives lost. It started small but was growing bigger and bigger by the day.

“Both countries have very powerful, strong, and smart leaders — good leaders. And the violence stopped. Hopefully, it will remain that way. It all stopped, and I was very proud of Marco Rubio and all the people who worked so hard on this. Marco, stand up — what a great job you did on that. Thank you, JD Vance, Marco, and the whole group who worked with you. It was a great job.”

Trump referred to the India-Pakistan conflict, asserting his role as a peacemaker who is committed to resolving conflicts in the world. He next spoke of his efforts to resolve the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The Indian foreign ministry said the issue of trade did not come up in discussions with Washington during their conversations on the tensions with Pakistan. The spokesperson said the issue of Jammu and Kashmir has to be resolved by India and Pakistan bilaterally.