Tokyo, October 28, 2025: United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday claimed that seven aircraft were shot down during the brief military escalation between Pakistan and India in May, asserting that his administration’s trade policies played a key role in preventing the conflict from worsening.
Speaking at a dinner with business leaders during his trip to Japan, Trump said many wars had been averted because of the tariffs he imposed on several countries, describing them as a form of diplomatic leverage.
“If you look at India and Pakistan, they were going at it,” Trump said. “Seven brand-new, beautiful planes were shot down. I said to Prime Minister Modi and to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, very nice man, a very good man, and to the Field Marshal [Asim Munir] over in Pakistan, ‘Look, we’re not going to do any trade if you’re going to be fighting.’”
According to Trump, both sides agreed to de-escalate soon after. “Within 24 hours, that was the end of that. It was amazing,” he added. “I think trade is responsible for 70 per cent of the fact that we didn’t have wars.”
The May conflict, which marked the worst confrontation between the two nuclear-armed neighbours in decades, erupted following an attack on Hindu pilgrims in Indian-administered Kashmir. India swiftly blamed Pakistan for backing the assault, a claim Islamabad denied, calling New Delhi’s narrative “replete with fabrications.”
The confrontation saw both sides reportedly using fighter jets, missiles, artillery, and drones over four days of intense fighting that killed dozens before a ceasefire was agreed upon.
Pakistan’s military at the time said it had shot down six Indian fighter jets, including a French-made Rafale, while India acknowledged “some losses” but denied losing that many aircraft.
Trump’s comments, while consistent with his pattern of publicly taking credit for mediating global conflicts, have drawn renewed attention to the fragile peace between Pakistan and India, both of whom continue to face off over the disputed Kashmir region.
