A much-anticipated meeting between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and US President Donald Trump is currently underway at the White House in Washington, DC.
The visit, the first formal bilateral interaction between the two leaders, comes six years after former premier Imran Khan met Trump during the latter’s first term in July 2019.
PM Shehbaz had arrived in the US capital earlier in the day alongside a Pakistani delegation. According to state-run PTV, the premier was welcomed upon his arrival at the Andrews Airbase with a red carpet by senior US Air Force officials.
It added that Army Chief Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir will also be accompanying the premier.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is also expected to take part in the meeting.
Speaking to reporters before the meeting, Trump said that a “great leader” was coming to the White House.
“We’ve got the prime minister of Pakistan coming and the field marshal … [he’s] a great great guy and so is the prime minister, both,” he told reporters.
The US president’s schedule released by the White House showed that the meeting will be closed to the press — a break from Trump’s usual modus operendi, as he is known for inviting select cameras and reporters into the Oval Office for photo-ops.
Radio Pakistan reported earlier that the two are “expected to discuss matters of mutual interest as well as regional and global situation”.
The development comes as the premier is in the US for the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York. During his whirlwind tour, PM Shehbaz has attended UNGA sessions, a key multilateral summit of the Muslim bloc, as well as side meetings with the heads of international financial institutions in New York.
After the meeting with Trump, the premier is expected to return to New York as he is expected to address the UNGA on Friday.
‘Pak-US ties gradually warming up’
At a media briefing in New York, a senior State Department official told Dawn that ties between Washington and Islamabad were “gradually warming up” in Trump’s second term.
For years, the United States had viewed India as a counterweight to China’s growing influence in Asia, while Pakistan was seen as a close Chinese ally.
Since Trump returned to office in January 2025, US relations with India have come under strain over visa hurdles for Indians, steep tariffs imposed by Washington on Indian goods, and the president’s repeated claim that he personally brokered an India-Pakistan ceasefire in May following cross-border hostilities.
The senior official emphasised that US relations with Pakistan were not tied to its partnership with India.
“We have an independent relationship with Pakistan,” he said, recalling recent American investments worth hundreds of millions of dollars in Pakistan’s mineral sector, and noting continued US interest in petroleum exploration.
Responding to a question, the official added that Washington was still reviewing the recently concluded defence deal between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
On July 31, the two countries announced a trade agreement under which the US imposed a 19 per cent tariff on Pakistani goods. Trump has yet to finalise a similar deal with India. Analysts note that in response to tensions with Washington, New Delhi has begun recalibrating its ties with China as a hedge.
Earlier this year, Trump welcomed Field Marshal Munir to the White House — the first time a US president hosted Pakistan’s military leader without senior civilian officials present. Munir is widely regarded as the most powerful figure in the country, and his reception at the Oval Office underscored the military’s central role in bilateral relations.
“We’re working through a number of issues when it comes to counterterrorism, when it comes to economic and trade ties,” the senior State Department official said when asked about Pakistan.
“And so the president remains focused on advancing US interests in the region, that includes through engaging with Pakistan and their government leaders.”
On India, the official said Trump believed in being frank about frustrations in the relationship but still considered it strong. Washington, he added, continued to see New Delhi as “a good friend and partner” whose ties with the US would “define the 21st century”.
Islamabad has publicly backed Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to defuse tensions with India, even as it has condemned Israeli bombardments in Gaza, Qatar and Iran.
Prime Minister Sharif also joined Trump on Tuesday in a meeting with leaders of several Muslim-majority countries, where the US president discussed Israel’s assault on Gaza and shared American peace proposals on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
PM Shehbaz meets Bangladesh’s Yunus
Prior to the meeting with Trump, PM Shehbaz also met Bangladesh’s chief adviser, Muhammad Yunus, in New York, according to state broadcaster Radio Pakistan.
In this meeting, the premier reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to strengthening “constructive and forward-looking ties” with Bangladesh, rooted in mutual respect, trust and shared aspirations of regional peace and prosperity, the Radio Pakistan report said.
The two leaders reviewed the current state of Pakistan-Bangladesh bilateral relations, discussing ways to strengthen cooperation in areas including trade, regional connectivity and people-to-people exchanges, it added.
For his part, Yunus appreciated Pakistan’s initiative to deepen engagement and highlighted the importance of enhancing bilateral trade and cultural linkage, it said.
Additional input from Reuters
