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Last Updated:May 28, 2025, 20:06 IST
The statement was part of legal submissions from four cabinet officials opposing a lawsuit filed by small companies challenging Donald Trump's trade tariffs
Indian officials have categorically denied that the Trump administration’s trade or tariff measures led to the cessation of hostilities with Pakistan that ensued following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. File image/ANI
The US administration has informed a New York federal court in a written filing that President Donald Trump used trade access as an incentive to “avert a full-scale war" between India and Pakistan.
A legal setback in the case could change the course of an “asymmetric" trade truce with China, and revive India-Pakistan conflict, officials also argued, according to an SCMP report.
The statement by US Commerce Secretary Howard W Lutnick was part of legal submissions from four Trump administration cabinet officials opposing a lawsuit filed by small companies challenging the global 10% tariffs imposed on nearly all imports, along with additional tariffs targeting specific countries. The case is before the US Court of Trade (CIT), a federal court with jurisdiction over matters involving international trade and customs laws.
A three-judge panel at the court is considering whether Trump’s use of a “national emergency" was legally justified to support the tariffs.
If the court limited Trump’s authority, Lutnick argued, “foreign counterparts will have reduced incentives to reach meaningful agreements", and it would “destroy the carefully crafted China trade agreement, which is asymmetric in America’s favour, in order to address the emergency of our persistent goods trade deficit".
Indian officials have categorically denied that the Trump administration’s trade or tariff measures led to the cessation of hostilities with Pakistan that ensued following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.
The external affairs ministry’s official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on May 13, “From the time Op Sindoor commenced on 07 May till the understanding on cessation of firing and military action on 10 May, there were conversations between Indian and US leaders on the evolving military situation. The issue of trade did not come up in any of these discussions."
(With agency inputs)
Location : First Published:News world 'India-Pakistan Ceasefire May Suffer': Trump Admin's Tariff Defence In US Court
