US President Donald Trump will meet Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at the White House at 4:30pm on Wednesday in the Oval Office, according to the president’s official schedule of daily engagements.
Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir is expected to accompany the premier, while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will join President Trump.
A Trump administration official also confirmed the meeting between PM Shehbaz and Trump, which comes weeks after the two countries agreed to a trade deal, to Reuters.
According to Radio Pakistan, the two are “expected to discuss matters of mutual interest as well as regional and global situation”.
The development comes as the premier is currently in New York for the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). 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.
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.
Additional input from Reuters
