External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim that trade negotiations were used to broker a ceasefire between India and Pakistan during recent hostilities. Speaking at a public event in New York, Jaishankar offered a firsthand account to clarify the sequence of events following the May escalation triggered by the Pahalgam terror attack.

“I was in the room when Vice President J.D. Vance spoke to Prime Minister Modi on May 9,” Jaishankar said, firmly denying any link between trade and India’s military decisions. “The Pakistanis threatened a massive assault, but the Prime Minister was unmoved. In fact, he made it clear there would be a response.”

He said that after Pakistan launched an attack that night, India responded swiftly under Operation Sindoor, targeting terror infrastructure across the border.

The following morning, Jaishankar received a call from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who conveyed that Pakistan was ready for dialogue. Later that day, Pakistan’s Director General of Military Operations contacted his Indian counterpart to request a ceasefire.

Jaishankar’s account directly contradicts Trump’s recent statement at a news conference in The Hague, where he claimed to have used trade leverage to halt the conflict. “If you’re gonna go fighting each other… we’re not doing any trade deal,” Trump said. “They responded that you have to do a trade deal.”

Jaishankar emphasized that diplomacy and trade function independently. “Trade teams work with numbers, products, and negotiations — not ceasefires,” he said.

India launched Operation Sindoor in response to a deadly terror attack in Pahalgam carried out by The Resistance Front, a group linked to Pakistan-backed Lashkar-e-Taiba.