United States President Donald Trump seemed to confuse India with Iran while repeating his claim that he used tariffs to prevent a possible nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan. He has frequently claimed that his use of tariffs helped stop wars, even going so far as to say his trade policies ended “five or six” of the “eight wars” that occurred during his time in office.
While responding about tariffs on China, Trump said, “We have a 100 per cent tariff. If we didn’t have tariffs, we would be exposed as being a nothing. We would have no defence. They’ve used tariffs on us, but we’ve never had anybody sitting in that chair who felt the need to do it.”
However, in between, he said he was in the midst of “negotiating a trade deal with Iran”, while actually talking about an incident related to Pakistan.
“As an example, if you look at Pakistan and Iran. I told them I was negotiating a trade deal with Iran, and Pakistan was going to be in line. Because of tariffs, they all wanted to negotiate much differently. Then I heard they were shooting at each other, and I said, ‘Are you guys going to go to war? Two nuclear powers we are thinking about’,” he added.
Netizens react
One of the users said, “His Cognitive ability is gone.” Another questioned, “Why doesn’t anyone ever correct him in real time? ” A third remarked, “Terrifying.”
Trump’s 200% tariffs claim to stop India-Pakistan war
Trump on Wednesday even alleged that he used 200% tariff threat to stop India-Pakistan war in May this year, adding he was in the contact with both nations.
“We stopped a lot of these wars using trade. As an example, India and Pakistan were going at it really hard. Seven planes were shut down…Bad things were happening and I was talking to both of them about trade…I said we are not going to do a trade deal unless they stop the war,” Trump said, as per ANI.
He added, “I got him on the phone and I said, listen, we’re going to put a 200 % tariff on your country for any product you sell into the United States unless you stop this war…I spoke to the leaders of both nations. I like them both. But I said that’s the way it is and I get a call the next day, we have decided to de-escalate…We have decided that we will not fight…I love stopping wars.”