By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: President Donald Trump is expected to host Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at the White House today, according to administration officials, a meeting that comes weeks after the two countries sealed a trade deal and amid a broader thaw in US-Pakistan relations.
The session would cap Sharif’s diplomacy-heavy visit to the United States, which has included addresses at the United Nations General Assembly, talks with leaders of international financial institutions and participation in a multilateral summit of Muslim-majority nations.
Reuters reported the expected meeting, citing a Trump administration official. From its Washington bureau, the Pakistani newspaper Dawn noted that all signs point to the engagement, though officials have remained guarded about specifics.
The prime minister’s media team, staff at Pakistan’s embassy and its UN mission have described the meeting as “almost certain.” Several senior diplomats have returned to Washington to prepare, and members of the embassy’s media staff are shifting back to the capital, Dawn reported.
Journalists from Pakistan covering the visit are arranging trips south to the White House. In a media interaction, when asked by reporters about the possibility of his meeting with Trump today, Sharif simply smiled and said he would speak about it the following day.
Sources suggest that army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir may join Sharif for the meeting. Earlier this year, Munir became the country’s first military commander to be invited to the White House for a bilateral meeting, the first time a US president hosted the head of Pakistan’s army, widely regarded as the most powerful figure in the country, unaccompanied by senior Pakistani civilian officials.
There was still no overt official confirmation of the meeting. When asked about the possibility, a senior State Department official referred journalists to the president’s schedule. Trump’s schedule for today had yet to be released.
The talks follow a period of warming US-Pakistan ties under Trump, after Washington had for years viewed Pakistan’s rival, India, as a counter to China’s influence in Asia. Relations with New Delhi have been tested under the Republican leader over issues such as visa hurdles for Indians, high tariff rates imposed by Trump on goods from India and Trump’s repeated claims that he brokered an India-Pakistan ceasefire in May after the South Asian neighbours engaged in their latest hostilities.
The United States and Pakistan announced a trade deal on July 31 with a 19 percent tariff rate imposed by Washington. Trump has yet to reach a trade deal with India. Officials and analysts have noted that after tensions with Washington, New Delhi is recalibrating relations with China as a hedge.
“We’re working through a number of issues when it comes to counter-terrorism, when it comes to economic and trade ties,” a senior State Department official told reporters in a briefing on Tuesday when asked about Pakistan. “And so the president remains focused on advancing US interests in the region, which includes engaging with Pakistan and their government leaders,” the official said.
When asked about frictions with India, the official said Trump believed in being frank about frustrations in ties but the relationship was strong. Washington viewed New Delhi as a good friend and partner and believed their relationship would define the 21st century, the official said. They added that Washington had been working on planning for a summit of the Quad grouping of India, Australia, Japan and the United States that India had been expected to hold in November. That would happen, “if not this year, early next year,” the official said.
Pakistan has backed Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in de-escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, although Islamabad has condemned US ally Israel’s bombardments in Gaza, Qatar and Iran.
Sharif was part of a meeting Trump had on Tuesday with leaders of many Muslim-majority countries, where the US president discussed Israel’s assault on Gaza. Washington says the US shared peace proposals with leaders from those countries in the meeting held on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly.
Following their meeting on Wednesday, Sharif and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar also had some one-on-one face time with Trump. A Foreign Office statement on X, alongside a video of the brief rendezvous, described it as an informal exchange. The video showed the US president warmly greeting Sharif and Dar, followed by a brief conversation.
The joint statement, issued after the meeting of Muslim leaders with the US president, underscored the unbearable situation in the Gaza Strip, including the humanitarian catastrophe and high human toll, as well as its serious consequences for the region and impact on the Muslim world as a whole.
The leaders of Muslim nations reiterated their common position, rejecting the forced displacement of people from Gaza. They emphasized the need to end the war and achieve an immediate ceasefire that would ensure the release of hostages and allow the entry of sufficient humanitarian aid as the first step toward a just and lasting peace.
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