New York/Islamabad: US President Donald Trump has met with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir at the White House to discuss bilateral ties.
Trump said a “great leader” was coming while talking to reporters at the White House after signing several executive orders Thursday.
“In fact, we have a great leader coming, the Prime Minister of Pakistan coming, and the field marshal (of) Pakistan. Field marshal is a very great guy and so is the Prime Minister, both. And they’re coming,” Trump said.
This was the first formal bilateral interaction between Trump and Sharif, coming six years after former premier Imran Khan met Trump during the latter’s first term in July 2019.
Sharif is in the US for the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly and will address the General Debate from the UNGA podium on Friday.
The meeting was held at the Oval Office in Washington DC, where Vice President J D Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were also present, according to a statement by the Pakistan Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), which added that it was held in a “pleasant atmosphere”.
The meeting was closed to the press and was scheduled to start at 4:30 pm (local time) but was delayed by about 30 minutes due to President Trump’s engagements. It continued for approximately one hour and 20 minutes.
Post-meeting photos showed both Prime Minister Sharif and Field Marshal Munir exchanging views with Trump. Trump was also all smiles as he flashed his signature thumbs up sign during a group photo.
Sharif met Trump in New York on the margins of the UNGA session on Tuesday when the US president held a multilateral meeting with leaders from Arab nations and others, including Egypt, Indonesia, Qatar, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye.
Earlier, Radio Pakistan reported that the two were “expected to discuss matters of mutual interest as well as regional and global situation”.
Sharif arrived at the White House around 4.52 pm and was greeted by senior administration officials.
The Pakistani Prime Minister’s motorcade was seen leaving the White House around 6.18 pm, according to the White House pool.
In his remarks to reporters after signing the executive orders, Trump again said that he has stopped seven wars.
He repeated the claim in his address to world leaders at the UNGA. Pakistan has nominated Trump for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, in “recognition of his decisive diplomatic intervention and pivotal leadership during the recent India-Pakistan crisis”.
Since May 10, when Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire after a “long night” of talks mediated by Washington, he has repeated his claim nearly 50 times that he “helped settle” the tensions between India and Pakistan.
India has been consistently maintaining that the understanding on cessation of hostilities with Pakistan was reached following direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations of the two militaries.
The last Pakistani Prime Minister to visit the White House was Imran Khan, who met Trump in July 2019 on an “official working visit”.
Before him, Sharif’s brother and then Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited the White House in 2015.
Historically, Pakistan and the US were Cold War allies and for years worked together in defeating the USSR in Afghanistan and later on fighting together against militancy.
But their polices diverged with respect to Afghan Taliban and the US felt betrayed due to Pakistan’s alleged ties to the militants. The tipping point was reached when the US in a secret operation killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011.
The two countries have reached a trade agreement that entails a 19 per cent tariff on Pakistani imports and will allow Washington to help develop Pakistan’s oil reserves. US goods and services trade with Pakistan totalled an estimated USD 10.1 billion in 2024, up 6.3 per cent (USD 523.0 million) from 2023.
The US’ total goods trade (exports plus imports) with Pakistan was an estimated USD 7.2 billion in 2024. US goods exports to Pakistan in 2024 were USD 2.1 billion, up 3.3 per cent (USD 67.2 million) from 2023.
US goods imports from Pakistan in 2024 totalled USD 5.1 billion, up 4.8 per cent (USD 233.9 million) from 2023. The US goods trade deficit with Pakistan was USD 3 billion in 2024, a 5.9 per cent increase (USD 166.7 million) from 2023.
PTI
