ISLAMABAD: United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday reiterated he had brokered a “historic ceasefire” between India and Pakistan using trade as leverage, while urging his administration to help build diplomatic ties strong enough for the nuclear-armed rivals to someday “go out and have a nice dinner together.”

The statement came days after a major standoff between the two South Asian neighbors, which saw both sides exchange missile and drone attacks as well as artillery fire across the Line of Control in Kashmir.

Trump, who announced the ceasefire on Saturday, said it followed a night of intense diplomatic activity. Subsequently, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio informed the two countries had agreed to hold talks at a neutral venue to discuss a broad range of outstanding issues.

Trump made the remarks about the ceasefire during his address to the Saudi-US Investment Forum in Riyadh, shortly after arriving in the Kingdom where he met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and senior Saudi officials. 

The visit also saw the signing of more than $300 billion in defense and economic deals.

“Just days ago, my administration successfully brokered a historic ceasefire to stop the escalating violence between India and Pakistan,” he said. “And I used trade to a large extent to do it and I said, ‘Fellas, come on, let’s make a deal. Let’s do some trading. Let’s not trade nuclear missiles. Let’s trade the things that you make so beautifully.’”

Trump praised the efforts of his top aides, including Vice President JD Vance and Rubio, and called the leadership in both India and Pakistan “strong and smart.”

“Maybe we can even get them together a little bit, Marco, where they go out and have a nice dinner together,” he added. “Wouldn’t that be nice?”

He warned that the recent crisis, which he said “started off small,” had the potential to spiral into a broader conflict with devastating consequences.

“Millions of people could have died,” he said.

India, however, negated shortly before Trump’s speech that trade was a factor in the US-mediated truce.

Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, confirmed that top leaders in New Delhi and Washington remained in close contact during the standoff, but denied that trade was discussed.

“The issue of trade didn’t come up in any of these discussions,” he said, referring to calls between Vance and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as well as between Rubio and External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

With input from AP

NEW DELHI: The Indian government on Tuesday rejected US President Donald Trump’s claim that he helped broker a ceasefire between India and Pakistan in exchange for trade concessions.

Addressing a weekly news conference, Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesman for India’s foreign ministry, said top leaders in New Delhi and Washington were in touch last week following the Indian military’s intense standoff with Pakistan, but there was no conversation on trade.

“The issue of trade didn’t not come up in any of these discussions,” Jaiswal said, referring to the conversations held between US Vice President JD Vance and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as well as between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Indian counterpart, S. Jaishankar.

Following Saturday’s understanding reached between India and Pakistan in what was a US-mediated ceasefire to stop military action on land, in the air and at sea, Trump told reporters on Monday that he offered to help both the nations with trade if they agreed to de-escalate.

“I said, ‘Come on, we’re going to do a lot of trade with you guys. Let’s stop it. Let’s stop it. If you stop it, we’ll do a trade. If you don’t stop it, we’re not going to do any trade’,” Trump said.

“And all of a sudden, they said, ‘I think we’re going to stop’,” Trump said, crediting trade leverage for influencing both the nations’ decision. “For a lot of reasons, but trade is a big one.”

The militaries of India and Pakistan had been engaged in one of their most serious confrontations in decades since last Wednesday, when India struck targets inside Pakistan it said were affiliated with militants responsible for the killing of 26 tourists last month in Indian-administered Kashmir.

After India’s strikes in Pakistan, both sides exchanged heavy fire along their de facto border, followed by missile and drone strikes into each other’s territories, mainly targeting military installations and air bases.

The escalating hostilities between the nuclear-armed rivals threatened regional peace, leading to calls by world leaders to cool down tempers.

Trump said he not only helped mediate the ceasefire, but also offered mediation over the simmering dispute in Kashmir, a Himalayan region that both India and Pakistan claim in entirety but govern in part. The two nations have fought two wars over Kashmir, which has long been described as the regional nuclear flashpoint.

New Delhi also rejected Trump’s offer for mediation on Tuesday.

“We have a longstanding national position that any issues related to the federally controlled union territory of Jammu and Kashmir must be addressed by India and Pakistan bilaterally. There has been no change to the stated policy,” Jaiswal said.