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Confronted with the responsibility of defending President Donald Trump’s trade policies, senior US officials informed an American court that any effort to limit the president’s authority to utilize trade and impose tariffs could, among other consequences, trigger a renewed conflict between India and Pakistan, jeopardizing the lives of millions.
Reiterating Trump’s assertion – which India has consistently denied – that he acted as a mediator between India and Pakistan, they claimed that a “fragile” ceasefire was only established after the president intervened and provided both nations with trading access to the US.
Trump himself previously stated that he threatened to halt trade with India and Pakistan to persuade them to agree to a ceasefire, aiming to resolve the conflict sparked by India’s Operation Sindoor against terrorist camps in Pakistan.
Indian officials recalled external affairs minister S Jaishankar’s dismissal of this claim in an interview last week, where he stated that while American leaders – similar to some from Gulf nations – had communicated with both countries, the cessation of hostilities on May 10 was directly negotiated by the Indian and Pakistani military forces. The Indian government refrains from using the term ceasefire.
This recent affirmation of Trump’s assertion was part of signed statements by four prominent members of the president’s cabinet – Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, and US Trade Representative Jamieson Lee Greer – in the US Court of International Trade, which is examining lawsuits challenging the so-called Liberation Day tariffs. A decision from the Manhattan-based court is anticipated in the coming weeks.
In arguing against any weakening of the presidential authority to invoke US laws for imposing tariffs on foreign nations – and the potential repercussions on the use of economic tools for strategic purposes – Lutnick referenced the military conflict between the “nuclear powers” India and Pakistan and the subsequent ceasefire reached.
Lutnick emphasized that the United States successfully negotiated a 90-day agreement with Beijing to reduce Chinese tariffs on US exports, a result attributed to Trump’s implementation of higher tariffs. Meanwhile, India is in discussions with the US regarding its own bilateral trade agreement aimed at addressing the US trade deficit, with Trump asserting that India proposed a deal involving essentially zero tariffs.
In his statement, Rubio contended that any unfavorable ruling would inflict considerable and irreversible damage on US foreign policy and national security, while jeopardizing broader US strategic interests on a global scale.
Rubio further noted that any weakening of the presidential authority to invoke the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) for imposing tariffs could lead foreign nations to impose retaliatory tariffs against the US. He remarked that it was the potential for additional tariffs from the Trump administration under the IEEPA that had dissuaded countries from taking retaliatory actions.
(Newsroom staff only edited this story for style from a syndicated feed)
