New York | US President Donald Trump has repeated his claim of "stopping" the conflict between India and Pakistan through trade and tariffs, but said he "doesn't know" if he'll get the Nobel Peace Prize for settling "eight wars”, including the one between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
Trump has asserted multiple times over the past months that he should receive the prestigious award for settling multiple conflicts during his tenure.
The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced by the Norwegian Nobel Committee today.
During a bilateral meeting with Finnish President Alexander Stubb on Friday, Trump was asked by a reporter about his chances of winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
"Well, I don't know," said the US President, asserting that he made eight deals and solved wars, and would also "probably" solve the Russia-Ukraine war. "I think we'll do that too...And I think they'll be coming to the table pretty soon." He called the conflict between India and Pakistan "very big" and claimed to resolve it based on trade and tariffs.
"But I said if you guys are going to fight, I'm putting 100 per cent tariffs on each of you, and they immediately stopped fighting," he said.
"And that was going to go nuclear, you know, that was back and forth," he added.
India has consistently maintained that the understanding on cessation of hostilities with Pakistan was reached following direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two militaries.
"So, I know one thing -- I don't know what they (Nobel committee) are going to do, really, but I know this, that nobody in history has solved eight wars in a period of nine months, and I've stopped eight wars. So, that's never happened before. But they'll have to do what they do. Whatever they do is fine," Trump said.
"But nobody has ever done eight wars. Nobody's done eight wars in 30 years, let alone nine months," he reiterated.
Since May 10, when Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire after a “long night” of talks mediated by Washington, he has repeated his claim dozens of times that he “helped settle” the conflict between India and Pakistan.
India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians.
India and Pakistan reached an understanding on May 10 to end the conflict after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes.