{"id":295993,"date":"2025-07-27T13:44:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-27T13:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/295993\/"},"modified":"2025-07-27T13:44:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-27T13:44:13","slug":"pakistans-ishaq-dar-on-a-trade-deal-with-trump-balancing-the-us-and-china-and-peace-with-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/295993\/","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan\u2019s Ishaq Dar on a trade deal with Trump, balancing the US and China, and peace with India"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>              <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2025-07-25T153949Z_1233003963_RC2RTFAIUQOI_RTRMADP_3_USA-PAKISTAN-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Pakistan\u2019s Ishaq Dar on a trade deal with Trump, balancing the US and China, and peace with India\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Watch the event<\/p>\n<p>A US-Pakistan trade deal is on the way, according to Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Dar, who spoke at an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atlanticcouncil.org\/event\/pakistans-foreign-minister-on-tensions-with-india-and-the-future-of-us-ties\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Atlantic Council Front Page event<\/a> on Friday during his trip to Washington, said that the United States and Pakistan\u2019s economic relationship has \u201cascended,\u201d and the two sides are working on finalizing the trade deal, with the Pakistani prime minister\u2019s office reviewing the deal to \u201cfine-tune\u201d it now.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe hope to conclude a mutually beneficial trade agreement . . . hopefully in days, not in weeks.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As for the specific tariff rate expected, Dar said that \u201cas long as we are better than or equal to our peers, we should be fine.\u201d US President Donald Trump has recently announced deals with <a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Business\/trumps-trade-agreement-japan\/story?id=123991644\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Japan<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/asia-pacific\/indonesia-cut-tariffs-non-tariff-barriers-us-trade-deal-2025-07-22\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Indonesia<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/china\/us-philippines-trade-talks-yield-modest-tariff-shift-after-trump-marcos-meeting-2025-07-22\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Philippines<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c4gd66q0q7go\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Vietnam<\/a>, with tariff rates ranging from 15 percent to 20 percent.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Dar had met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier Friday. \u201cWe seek a relationship grounded not in dependency but in mutual benefit; not in blame, but in dialogue,\u201d Dar said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have to come out of this transactional relationship,\u201d he added. \u201cAnd it should be strategic, stable.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Below are other highlights from the conversation, moderated by NBC News National Security Reporter Dan De Luce, which also touched upon the US-China relationship, Pakistan\u2019s cease-fire with India, and Islamabad\u2019s approach to diplomacy with Afghanistan.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Avoiding \u2018bloc politics\u2019<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>While the United States is a \u201clong-standing friend\u201d to Pakistan, Dar said, China is a \u201cstrategic partner.\u201d \u00a0<\/li>\n<li>\u201cOur foreign policy is not a zero-sum game,\u201d he said. \u201cWe hope to see friendly relations between the US and China and do not wish to embroil in bloc politics.\u201d\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Dar argued that Pakistan\u2019s increasing engagement with China\u2014including purchasing military hardware from Beijing\u2014should not change the United States\u2019 understanding of their relationship.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cIt\u2019s a matter of who gives a better deal,\u201d he said. \u201cWe should not be seeing the relationship through the lens of other [countries]. It has to stand alone.\u201d\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Dar added that he believes Pakistan can serve as a \u201cbridge\u201d between the United States and China, which would be a \u201cwin-win for the globe,\u201d as US-China cooperation \u201ccould help lift millions out of poverty,\u201d he said. \u201cConflict, on the other hand, would prove disastrous for the entire world.\u201d\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The search for peace<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Dar explained that US-Pakistan cooperation is \u201con the rise\u201d in part due to the United States\u2019 role in securing a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atlanticcouncil.org\/blogs\/new-atlanticist\/experts-react\/india-pakistan-cease-fire-experts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cease-fire<\/a> between India and Pakistan, after the two countries traded airstrikes in May following a terrorist attack in the disputed Kashmir region in April. \u201cThe US has emerged as a credible arbiter of peace and stability in South Asia,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>On the cease-fire, Dar said that Islamabad is \u201ccommitted to sustaining it.\u201d\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>This month, the US government <a href=\"https:\/\/www.state.gov\/releases\/office-of-the-spokesperson\/2025\/07\/terrorist-designation-of-the-resistance-front\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">designated<\/a> the Resistance Front\u2014which initially took responsibility for the April attack in Pahalgam\u2014as a foreign terrorist organization, linking it to a Pakistani extremist group called Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Dar said he would welcome \u201cany evidence that it is involved\u201d in the attack but argued that \u201clinking it to the LeT is wrong\u201d as, according to Dar, \u201cthat outfit was dismantled years ago by Pakistan.\u201d\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Going forward, Pakistan and India \u201ccannot\u201d and \u201cmust not continue to rely on luck and last [-minute] interventions,\u201d Dar said. \u201cWhat we need is a sustainable architecture of peace in South Asia\u2014an architecture in which the United States . . . can play a constructive and stabilizing role\u201d through military coordination, counterterrorism cooperation, and diplomacy.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>\u201cRegional peace, however, will remain elusive until all parties, including India, commit to a dialogue and dispute resolution in good faith and under international norms,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Dar said that Pakistan is \u201cready\u201d for dialogue with India, but Islamabad insists that any dialogue be comprehensive, touching upon not only Kashmir but also counterterrorism more broadly and even trade. \u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Regarding Kashmir\u2019s future, Dar said \u201cthe Kashmiri people should be given the right to decide.\u201d\u00a0<\/li>\n<li class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-cade831554b0a5682e1b2cefe5299f79\">Dar was also asked about the case of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/asia-pacific\/pakistan-ex-pm-imran-khan-indicted-charges-inciting-attacks-against-military-geo-2024-12-05\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">indicted<\/a> for inciting violence after his supporters rioted in protest of his 2023 arrest on corruption charges, and whether it would impact Pakistan\u2019s democratic reputation abroad. In response, Dar said that \u201cif you are a popular political leader, it doesn\u2019t give you license to pick up arms, to provoke [the] public, and to go and attack the security installation of a country.\u201d Khan, who was behind bars at the time of the deadly attacks on military installations, has denied directing the violence.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>One neighborly request<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In May, Pakistan announced it would send an ambassador to Afghanistan; and in June, Islamabad agreed to collaborate with Kabul on the Trans-Afghan Railway. Dar said that while Pakistan has not yet recognized the Taliban government in Afghanistan, these latest actions were taken \u201cfor the benefit of the people of Afghanistan.\u201d\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Even with projects such as the Trans-Afghan Railway underway, Dar said that Pakistan will \u201ccontinue to urge\u201d the Taliban to \u201cfulfill [its] antiterror commitments.\u201d That \u201cis the only ask,\u201d Dar said.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>\u201cWe have to all work together,\u201d Dar said, \u201cto take all measures [to eliminate] this menace of terrorism from the globe.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Katherine Golden is an associate director on the editorial team at the Atlantic Council.<\/p>\n<p>Watch the full event<\/p>\n<p>                            Further reading<\/p>\n<p class=\"ac-single-post--marquee--caption\">Image: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio shakes hands with Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar at the State Department in Washington, DC on July 25, 2025. Photo via REUTERS\/Jonathan Ernst.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Watch the event A US-Pakistan trade deal is on the way, according to Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar.\u00a0&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295994,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[49,978,659],"class_list":{"0":"post-295993","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-united-states","9":"tag-us","10":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114925501522981288","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}