WASHINGTON — Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, accompanied by Field Marshal Asim Munir, met US President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday during his visit to the United States for the 80th United Nations General Assembly session.
He made a brief visit to Washington from New York for the meeting with Trump on Thursday, marking the Pakistani PM’s first visit to the White House.
Munir, who was hosted by Trump for lunch at the White House earlier this summer, accompanied Sharif for the meeting, which was also attended by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Sharif had also met Trump in New York on the sidelines of the UNGA session on Tuesday, when the US president held a multilateral meeting with leaders from Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye.
Sharif arrived at the White House around 4:52 pm and was greeted by senior administration officials. His motorcade was seen leaving around 6:18 pm, according to the White House press pool.
Trump signed several executive orders earlier in the day and was speaking to reporters when Sharif and Munir arrived. “In fact, we have a great leader coming, the prime minister of Pakistan, and the field marshal of Pakistan. Field marshal is a very great guy and so is the prime minister, both. They may be in this room right now, I don’t know, because we’re late. I said maybe they’d like to join. They actually may be somewhere in the beautiful Oval Office,” Trump told reporters.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that he ended the recent conflict between India and Pakistan. He reiterated this in his address to world leaders at the UNGA. Pakistan has nominated Trump for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, citing his “decisive diplomatic intervention and pivotal leadership” during the India-Pakistan crisis.
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, Shehbaz Sharif’s brother and then prime minister Nawaz Sharif visited in 2015.
The US and Pakistan have also reached a trade agreement involving a 19 per cent tariff on Pakistani imports, alongside American assistance in developing Pakistan’s oil reserves.
According to official data, US goods and services trade with Pakistan totalled an estimated USD 10.1 billion in 2024, up 6.3 per cent (USD 523 million) from 2023.
The total goods trade was an estimated USD 7.2 billion. US goods exports to Pakistan stood at USD 2.1 billion in 2024, up 3.3 per cent (USD 67.2 million) from 2023, while imports totalled USD 5.1 billion, up 4.8 per cent (USD 233.9 million). The US trade deficit with Pakistan rose to USD 3 billion in 2024, a 5.9 per cent increase (USD 166.7 million) from the previous year. — (PTI)