Trump says 10 planes shot down during Pak-India war, credits ceasefire to tariffs threat

US President Donald Trump has again claimed that 10 aircraft were shot down during the May 2025 military conflict between Pakistan and India, while crediting his threat of tariffs for halting what he described as a potential nuclear war between the two countries.

In an interview with Fox Business aired this week, Trump said he used trade pressure to end multiple global conflicts, asserting that tariffs played a decisive role in preventing further escalation between Islamabad and New Delhi.

“I settled eight wars. Out of the eight wars, at least six were settled because of tariffs,” Trump said. “In other words, I said, ‘If you don’t settle this war, I’m going to charge you tariffs because I don’t want to see people getting killed.’”

Referring to the four-day conflict between India and Pakistan in May 2025, he added, “Like India and Pakistan, it would have been a nuclear war, in my opinion. They were really going at it. Ten planes were shot down. They were going at it.”

Trump has repeatedly cited the brief but intense military escalation between the two nuclear-armed neighbours as one of the conflicts he claims to have helped defuse. Since May 2025, he has gradually increased the number of aircraft he says were shot down, initially putting the figure at five, later raising it to seven and eight, and now to 10, without specifying which side’s jets were downed.

During the interview, Trump also quoted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif as praising his intervention. “He said President Trump saved at least 10 million lives,” Trump claimed, arguing that without the threat of tariffs, the ceasefire would not have materialised.

Tensions between India and Pakistan flared in April 2025 after a deadly attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir was blamed by New Delhi on Islamabad, which strongly denied the allegation. The two sides exchanged tit-for-tat strikes before a ceasefire was announced in May, with Trump publicly declaring that US mediation had helped bring about the truce.

India, however, has differed with Trump’s assertion that US trade pressure was responsible for ending the hostilities. Indian officials have maintained that the ceasefire resulted from direct military-level contacts between the two countries rather than external intervention.

Despite the differing narratives, Trump has continued to highlight the episode in public appearances, including at an event at his Mar-a-Lago residence in December 2025, where he reiterated that his administration had “stopped a potential nuclear war.” He has also praised Pakistan’s Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff, Field Marshal Asim Munir, calling him a “highly respected general” and a “great fighter.”

In the Fox Business interview, Trump further criticised past US administrations, saying every president over the last 50 years had been “bad on trade,” before adding: “But I’m not bad on trade. I’m real good on trade.”

The India-Pakistan episode is among several conflicts Trump has cited as examples of his use of economic leverage in foreign policy. Whether his claims about the extent of US involvement and the durability of subsequent peace efforts will hold up remains a subject of debate.