US Secretary of State Marco Rubio doubled down on Trump’s claim of mediating India-Pakistan peace, a narrative India has firmly rejected. [Photo: Reuters]
US has reignited tensions with India by repeating claims that President Donald Trump directly stopped the recent India-Pakistan conflict. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a TV interview that Trump got “directly involved” and delivered peace between the nuclear-armed rivals.
India has flatly denied the claim, insisting the ceasefire came through talks between the Indian and Pakistani militaries without US mediation. The dispute has now taken on a sharper edge, with analysts linking it to fresh US trade penalties on India.
Marco Rubio portrayed Trump as committed to ending conflicts worldwide. He said, “When India and Pakistan went to war, we got involved directly, and the president was able to deliver on that peace.”
He also credited Trump with resolving disputes in Cambodia-Thailand, Azerbaijan-Armenia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo-Rwanda, and said the US is “looking for more,” including Ukraine-Russia.
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India has consistently rejected Trump’s narrative. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told parliament in May that it was “completely incorrect and baseless” to suggest India halted operations under US pressure.
He said India stopped military action only after achieving all political and military objectives. He added that the final decision followed a request from Pakistan’s Director General of Military Operations, who “pleaded for relief.”
Analysts see a link between the diplomatic disagreement and Washington’s new trade measures against India. Michael Kugelman of the Wilson Centre told ANI that Trump singled out India with steep tariff hikes partly because New Delhi refused to let him take credit for the ceasefire. Last month, Trump imposed an additional 25% tariff on Indian exports, raising the total burden to 50%.
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Kugelman noted that China, unlike India, did not openly dismiss Trump’s role in any peace process. As a result, India’s refusal to give him credit, along with its continued purchase of Russian oil, has squarely placed it in Washington’s line of fire. However, New Delhi defends its Russian oil imports as essential for energy security, and it has further called the tariffs “unfair, unjustified, and unreasonable.”
The Ministry of External Affairs described the US move as “extremely unfortunate,” pointing out that other nations, including China, take similar actions without facing penalties.
There is now a chance that the disagreement over the ceasefire narrative would affect US-India relations more broadly. Both parties maintain their stances, and given the public nature of the dispute, a short-term settlement is unlikely. For Washington, the episode contributes to Trump's election-related image-building.
For India, it is about preserving strategic autonomy and rejecting what it sees as inaccurate foreign claims. The coming months may reveal whether these tensions ease or evolve into a more serious rupture in trade and diplomacy.
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