US President Donald Trump said that hostilities between Pakistan and India were settled, after he urged the two countries to focus on trade instead of war, and asked the tech giant Apple to manufacture its products in the United States instead of India.
“I told India, Pakistan to do trade instead of war, they were happy with that,” Trump told US troops at a base in Qatar during second leg of his Middle East tour. “In talks over India-Pakistan dispute, talked about trade,” he said.
The nuclear-armed neighbours halted their worst fighting in nearly three decades after agreeing to a ceasefire on Saturday, following diplomacy from the United States. Trump had repeatedly said that he pressed both the countries to go for trade, instead of war.
Also during the visit to Qatar, Trump said that he urged Apple to manufacture its products in the United States instead of India, where the US tech giant has said it would be shifting production after US tariffs on China.
“I had a little problem with Tim Cook,” Trump said, referring to Apple’s CEO. “I said, Tim, we treated you really good. We put up with all the plants that you built in China for years now. We’re not interested in you building in India… we want you to build here and they’re going to be upping their production in the United States.”
On Monday, the US and China announced an agreement to suspend tit-for-tat tariffs for 90 days, de-escalating a trade war that has spooked financial markets and raised fears of a global economic downturn.
Prior to the agreement between Beijing and Washington, Cook said Apple was “not able to precisely estimate the impact of tariffs”.
