'Can't trust Trump': Nawaz Sharif aide's warning for Shehbaz Sharif as India-US trade deal rattles Pakistan

Ever since India and US clinched their trade deal last week, the Pakistani government has been facing pointed criticism from both opposition leaders and political experts.

Last week, opposition PTI leaders and journalists like Asad Toor and Imran Riaz Khan slammed PM Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief Asim Munir for relying on White House dinners, Nobel nominations for Trump and mineral pitches without results.

Now, Pakistani political commentator and Nawaz Sharif aide, Najam Sethi, has expressed scepticism over Sharif government's excessive flattery of Trump and said that the US President cannot be trusted.

"I've been saying from Day 1 that you can't trust Donald Trump. And he may make certain demands that will be difficult for Pakistan to fulfil. And if such a situation arises, then Donald Trump will exert counter-pressure on you ... such a situation may develop in the future," he said.

For last 9 months, this Najam Sethi was telling how Munir is Trump's lunch buddy after 'Pak's victory' in Op Sindoor. Now he fears Trump can spill beans and tell uncomfortable truths to world.pic.twitter.com/U8TRTh15m4

— Pakistan Untold (@pakistan_untold) February 9, 2026

Sethi’s views echo remarks made by several experts in recent months, who have flagged Pakistan’s risky strategy of trying to get on President Trump’s good books through symbolic gestures rather than substantive engagement, warning that such a transactional relationship could ultimately backfire.

Sethi added: "We've good ties with Trump admin right now but they can get strained owing to the evolving situation in the Middle East and India-US ties getting back on track."

Earlier, Moneycontrol had said in a report that Pakistan is playing the risky geopolitical game of overpromising things to Trump that it may not be able to deliver in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor.

Hussain Nadim, a US-based critic of Munir’s rule, told Financial Times last year that Pakistan's "unelected leaders and military officials" are willing to overpromise to appeal to what they think is Trump’s "narcissism".

"Trump and his advisers may eventually run out of patience when they see that Pakistan is not delivering," Nadim had said.

Michael Kugelman, US-based South Asia analyst, had said earlier that while Pakistan has promised Trump things to catch his attention, its critical minerals are mostly found in highly insecure areas. “This administration could well lose interest and move on. It’s nothing if not fickle.”

The remarks are now echoed by Sethi.

Since Operation Sindoor, Islamabad has pulled out all the stops to curry favour with Washington, leaning heavily on symbolic overtures to appease Trump.

The outreach has been marked more by optics and rhetorical positioning than by substantive policy or economic concessions, particularly on trade and structural reform.