- Статьи
- World
- Oil on oil: The United States is moving closer to Pakistan amid a cooling towards India
Oil on oil: The United States is moving closer to Pakistan amid a cooling towards India
Recently, amid the cooling of relations between the United States and India, there has been a rapprochement between America and Pakistan. US President Donald Trump invited Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif to the White House and thanked him for his support of Washington's proposed peace plan for the Gaza Strip. Islamabad received the lowest American tariffs for the import of its goods among the countries of the region — 19%. The warming of relations is especially noticeable in comparison with India, Pakistan's neighbor and eternal opponent. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
U.S.-Pakistan relations now
US President Donald Trump received Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Army Chief of Staff Asim Munir at the White House. He called them "incredible people" and "great leaders," thanking Islamabad for supporting its peace plan for Gaza.
"They have just stated that they fully believe in this plan and support it 100%," the American leader said.
Shortly before, the Pakistani Prime Minister praised Trump from the rostrum of the UN General Assembly, expressing gratitude to the US president and his team "for their active role in achieving a ceasefire" between India and Pakistan this spring. According to him, the American leader helped prevent a full-scale war in South Asia, because otherwise its consequences "would have been catastrophic."
Pakistan even officially nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize.
This approach on the part of the Pakistani authorities is very different from the position of India and could cause a cooling of relations between New Delhi and Washington.
In a telephone conversation with the American leader, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi denied Trump's claim that it was his mediation that helped defuse tensions between India and Pakistan. These words, as Western and Indian media wrote, provoked the anger of the US president and the desire to "punish" New Delhi by doubling duties on Indian exports and bringing them from a high 25% to an almost unprofitable 50%.
The concept has changed
Since Trump's return to the White House, relations between Islamabad and Washington have warmed. Earlier, the US presidents had a rather cool conversation with their colleagues from Pakistan, and Trump invited Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif to the White House for the first time in six years. Army Chief of Staff Munir, who does not have an official position in the government, spoke with the American leader for the second time in a year.
Trump decided to get closer to Pakistan against the background of a noticeable cooling of US-Indian relations caused by the increase in tariffs on Indian goods and Washington's demand to New Delhi to abandon purchases of Russian oil.
"According to Trump's idea, oil will also help improve relations with Islamabad," the Indian NDTV channel reports.
Earlier, the American leader said that Washington and Islamabad would work together to develop Pakistan's oil reserves. "Who knows, maybe one day this oil will be sold to India!" Trump added.
It has not yet been announced where exactly the exploration will be carried out. It is only known that most of the country's oil reserves are located in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, where separatists are active. In addition, oil may be located in the southern part of Sindh province, in the north-west of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and in the east of Punjab province.
At the same time, the world's largest oil companies, including American ones, have been trying for many years to find undeveloped reserves in the state, but there is no reliable evidence that they actually exist.
At the end of July, the United States and Pakistan agreed on a trade agreement, which, in particular, provides for a reduction in US duties on exports of Pakistani goods. In April, it was said that the United States was planning to impose 29% tariffs, but in the end they amounted to 19%.
Sharif thanked Trump for his role in concluding this agreement.
As Islamabad later stated, the agreements with the United States "will allow us to increase bilateral trade, expand market access, strengthen cooperation in the mining, IT, and cryptocurrency sectors, as well as attract investment."
In addition, Pakistan was able to supply the United States with critically important minerals and rare earths, and Washington was able to participate in the development of Pakistan's oil fields. The only problem is that there is no accurate data on Pakistan's mineral resources.
What do the experts think
Alexey Kupriyanov, head of the Center for the Indian Ocean Region of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told Izvestia that the current rapprochement between the United States and Pakistan is only a temporary phenomenon.
— India still remains a key American partner in the region, and the figures of trade turnover with Pakistan do not reach India's, even taking into account the new duties, — the political scientist is sure.
According to the AP, last year the trade turnover between the United States and Pakistan amounted to $7.3 billion against $129.2 billion with India. According to the indologist, relations between Washington and New Delhi are generally developing quite well.
— India hopes to resolve the trade dispute with the United States in the foreseeable future, remains a member of the QUAD and has no plans to terminate the agreements concluded with the United States. At the same time, she, as before, strives to maintain strategic autonomy," the expert emphasized.
Honorary researcher at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, Nandan Unnikrishnan, in a conversation with Izvestia, noted that in India, Trump's initiatives are treated with some humor.
— After all, the economy of Pakistan is not in very good condition at the moment. And Trump's flirtation with Islamabad is based on the fact that the American leader's family invested money in a company dealing with cryptocurrencies, which will be based in Pakistan, the expert noted.
According to him, it is necessary to build bilateral relations with the United States without looking at other countries.
Sharat Sabharwal, a Pakistani political analyst, believes that improving Islamabad's relations with key partners can embolden it.
"We need to keep a close eye on Pakistan. Now, thanks to strengthened business ties with the United States, a defense pact with Saudi Arabia, and strong support from China, Pakistan is gradually emerging from the geopolitical impasse. Washington and Islamabad have never been strategic partners, but they periodically entered into business relations, and this led to disastrous consequences," the expert emphasized.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
