Trump at UNGA claims credit for ending India-Pakistan conflict, seeks Nobel.
US President accuses India, China of funding Russia through oil imports.
India rejects Trump’s ceasefire claims, calls criticism unjustified and unreasonable.
Trump warns tariffs on Indian exports if Russia war continues unresolved.
US President Donald Trump addressed the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday and made several references to India during the speech alongside urging Gaza to stop the war immediately. He also called the recent recognition of Palestinian statehood by several Western countries a “reward” for Hamas.
In his first address since his return to the Oval Office, Trump said that he had ended seven wars in seven months, including conflict between Indian and Pakistan and also positioned himself for a Nobel Prize for the same. He further accused India and China of sponsoring Russia amid its ongoing war with Ukraine.
Trump’s Call for Nobel Prize
He said, "I ended seven wars... No president or prime minister, and for that matter, no other country has ever done anything close to that. I did it in just seven months. It's never happened before. I'm very honoured to have done it. It's too bad that I had to do these things instead of the United Nations doing them.”
He also said, "Everyone says that I should get the Nobel Peace Prize for each one of these achievements. But for me, the real prize will be the sons and daughters who live to grow up with their mothers and fathers because millions of people are no longer being killed in endless and inglorious wars," he said.
"In a period of just seven months, I have ended seven unendable wars. This includes Cambodia and Thailand, Kosovo and Serbia, Congo and Rwanda, Pakistan and India, Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, and Armenia and Azerbaijan," the US President claimed.
His claims come even after India denied Trump’s statement regarding having a role to play in the "ceasefire" between India and Pakistan.
According to External affairs minister S Jaishankar, who is also slated to address the UN, "at no stage in any conversation between India and the United States there was linkage with trade".
Earlier, while addressing the Lok Sabha, Jaishankar said, "There was no call between the Prime Minister and President Trump between April 22, when the President called the PM to convey his sympathy, and June 17, when he called the Prime Minister in Canada to explain why he couldn't meet.”
Trump Calls India, China ‘Primary Funders’ of War
Trump also accused New Delhi and China of being primary funders of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war by continuing to purchase Russian oil. He claimed, "China and India are the primary funders of the ongoing war by continuing to purchase Russian oil. But inexcusably, even NATO countries have not cut off much Russian energy and Russian energy products, which, as you know, I found out about two weeks ago, and I wasn't happy. They're funding the war against themselves. Who the hell ever heard of that one? In the event that Russia is not ready to make a deal to end the war, then the United States is fully prepared to impose a very strong round of powerful tariffs, which would stop the bloodshed, I believe, very quickly.”
He also mentioned, "For those tariffs to be effective, European nations, all of you are gathered here right now, would have to join us in adopting the exact same measures.”
The US administration had doubled tariffs on Indian exports to 50 per cent last month as a punitive action for buying Russian oil.
India’s Ministry of external affairs has called Trump’s criticism "unjustified and unreasonable" and said that like any major economy, New Delhi will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security.
India has also reiterated that India's imports are meant to ensure predictable and affordable energy costs to Indian consumers and are a necessity compelled by global market situation.
"It is revealing that the very nations criticising India are... indulging in trade with Russia. Unlike our case, such trade is not even a vital national compulsion," MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had stated.
