NEW DELHI: Congress on Thursday targeted the NDA over US President Donald Trump’s repeated claim that he forced India and Pakistan to step back from the brink of conflict by threatening both countries with 350% tariffs. The party said the claim was “extraordinary” and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi clarify whether any such conversation took place.Responding to Trump’s latest remarks, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh said the US president had made three specific claims. “He (Donald Trump) said three things. First, that PM Modi called me. Second, I pressurised him, and third, I told him that if you do not stop Operation Sindoor, you might get a 350% tariff… Our Prime Minister is silent?… Why are his ministers silent?…” Ramesh asked.Trump, speaking at the US–Saudi Investment Forum in Washington this week, said he warned both India and Pakistan that the US would impose massive tariffs and halt all trade if they continued escalating. He claimed the threat led both sides to pull back and prompted Modi to call him to say, “we’re not going to go to war.” Trump has repeated the story more than 60 times since May, despite India’s consistent rejection of any suggestion of third-party mediation. Recounting what he described as a firm message to the two nuclear-armed neighbours, Trump said he told them they could “go at it” but that he would respond with a 350 per cent tariff. According to him, both sides urged him not to proceed. He added that Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif later thanked him for “saving millions of lives.”Trump also linked his approach to broader claims that he used tariffs to “settle” several global conflicts. India, however, maintains that the ceasefire understanding with Pakistan on 10 May followed direct military-level talks between the two DGMOs. Operation Sindoor, launched on May 7 in response to the Pahalgam attack, was halted after these discussions with New Delhi stressing no external role.
