‘Enduring partnership in days to come’: Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif thanks Trump; calls US-Pakistan trade agreement historic

Pakistan's prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday thanked US President Donald Trump for the "historic" trade deal between Islamabad and Washington.“I wish to convey my profound thanks to President Trump @realDonaldTrump for his leadership role in finalization of the historic US-Pakistan trade agreement, successfully concluded by our two sides in Washington, last night. This landmark deal will enhance our growing cooperation so as to expand the frontiers of our enduring partnership in days to come,” Sharif said in a post on X.On Wednesday, Trump announced that the United States has reached an agreement with Pakistan to jointly develop the country’s “massive oil reserves.”“We have just concluded a deal with the country of Pakistan, whereby Pakistan and the United States will work together on developing their massive oil reserves," the US president said in a post on Truth Social.The development comes amidst a meeting between Pakistan's finance minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, US secretary of commerce Howard Lutnick, and US trade representative ambassador Jamieson Greer, as per the state-run Radio Pakistan.Pakistan has long asserted the presence of significant oil reserves along its coastline, but efforts to tap into them have seen little progress. To meet its energy needs, the country continues to rely on oil imports from the Middle East, reports PTI.“We are in the process of choosing the Oil Company that will lead this Partnership. Who knows, maybe they’ll be selling Oil to India some day!” Trump said.The announcement followed just hours after Trump imposed a 25 per cent tariff on all goods imported from India, along with an additional penalty for India’s purchases of Russian military equipment and energy."I don’t care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care. We have done very little business with India — their tariffs are too high, among the highest in the world. Likewise, Russia and the USA do almost no business together,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.The tariffs are scheduled to go into effect on Friday.