Trump Team Said Adverse Ruling Would Risk India-Pak Ceasefire, US Court Blocks US President Donald Trump’s Sweeping Tariffs

New York : The Donald Trump administration, while defending the use of powers to impose sweeping tariffs, told a US court that an adverse ruling would jeopardise the ceasefire brokered by the President between nuclear powers India and Pakistan.

In his submission to the court, US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick reiterated Trump’s claim that a “tenuous” ceasefire was reached between India and Pakistan after the US President interceded and offered both nations trading access to avert a full-scale war.

“An adverse ruling by this court that constrains the President’s powers could lead India and Pakistan to question the validity of Trump’s offer, threatening the security of an entire region and the lives of millions,” Lutnick said in his submission before the court on May 23. Trump has repeatedly claimed that he mediated the ceasefire between India and Pakistan and the threat of cutting off trade forced the countries to stop the hostilities.

Nonetheless, Trump has continued his tariff rhetoric targeting India. After Apple announced that a majority of iPhones to be sold in the US would be produced in India, Trump said that Apple would have to pay a 25 per cent tariff if it sold iPhones in the US that are built in India or elsewhere.

Trump also stated that he had told Apple CEO Tim Cook he does not want the company to expand its manufacturing operations in India unless it is to serve the Indian domestic market.

Moreover, an April report by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) criticised various Indian trade barriers, including “localised internet shutdowns that disrupt commercial operations” and regulations requiring that “dairy products intended for food must be derived from animals that have not consumed feed containing blood meal”.