WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Wednesday, July 30, 2025, US President Donald Trump made a series of quick trade announcements. One of them was about a new trade deal with Pakistan that would focus on a cooperative effort to produce Pakistan’s “massive oil reserves.” This statement came just a few hours after he said that imports from India will be subject to a 25% tariff and other penalties.
Trump wrote on Truth Social, “We have just made a deal with Pakistan. The US and Pakistan will work together to develop their huge oil reserves.” We are in the process of picking the oil company that will be responsible for this partnership. Maybe one day they’ll sell oil to India!
The news about Pakistan’s oil reserves comes after Trump decided to put a 25% tax and other penalties on Indian imports starting on August 1. He said the tariffs were necessary since Washington had a big trade deficit with New Delhi and India was still buying Russian oil and military equipment. India has over 4.6 billion barrels of oil reserves (as of 2021), but Pakistan only has about 353.5 million barrels (as of 2016). However, some studies say that Pakistan could have as much as 9 billion barrels of crude oil reserves, most of which are in areas that aren’t very developed.
Trump’s “maybe they’ll be selling oil to India some day!” comment is intriguing because India is the world’s third-largest oil importer and depends largely on foreign energy sources. A lot of the oil that Pakistan uses comes from other countries.
Trump also said in his Truth Social post that he is still talking about trade with leaders from many countries, all of whom “want to make the United States ‘extremely happy.'” He talked about a meeting with the South Korean Trade Delegation and said that South Korea now has a 25% tax but has made an offer to lower it.
“Other countries are also offering to lower tariffs.” Trump added, “All of this will help reduce our Trade Deficit in a very major way.” He promised a “full report” at the right time and repeated his slogan, “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
In 2024, the US had a $45.7 billion trade imbalance with India, which was 5.4% more than in 2023. The Commerce and Industry Ministry of India has said that it is “studying the implications” of Trump’s tariff move. It is still committed to a “fair, balanced, and mutually beneficial bilateral trade agreement.” India has also said again that it would do “everything necessary to protect our national interest.”
President Trump’s string of announcements shows that he has a strong and aggressive trade policy. He plans to use tariffs as leverage to renegotiate conditions with different global partners while also building new energy and trade partnerships.