The United States and Colombia stepped back from a trade war on Sunday after hours of heated exchanges between their leaders in public talks.
Washington threatened Bogotá with tariffs and sanctions after Colombia refused to accept two U.S. military planes carrying Colombian citizens deported from the United States. The United States is Colombia’s largest trading partner.
US President Donald Trump and his Colombian counterpart Gustavo Petro Barb traded online By late Sunday, Colombia had finally agreed to accept the exiles and claim victory to the United States. Here’s more about what happened — and what was at stake for Washington and Bogota.
What was Trump’s row with Colombia about?
Colombian President Petro has refused to let two US military planes carrying deported Colombian migrants into the US, amid Trump’s intensified crackdown on immigration.
They accused Trump of not treating deported immigrants with dignity or respect. Petro posted a video on X showing deportees at a Brazilian airport, with their hands and feet restrained. “I cannot allow refugees to live in a country that does not want them. But if that country sends them back, it should be with dignity and respect for them and our country.
In 2022, there were an estimated 240,000 unauthorized Colombian immigrants in the United States. Report By the US Department of Homeland Security.
Petro offered to send a presidential plane to facilitate the return of the migrants, which he said was more dignified than the US sending them back.
Trump accused Petro of endangering US security.
Threatening tariffs and sanctions, Trump wrote on his Truth social platform on Sunday: “These steps are just the beginning. We continue to honor the Colombian government’s legal obligations to accept and return these criminals.” Will not allow to violate those who forced to go to America!
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also said on Sunday that he was imposing visa restrictions on Colombian officials and their families who were “responsible for interfering with the operations of a US repatriation flight”.
What was the risk of Trump’s rates?
As the back-and-forth continued, Trump escalated his threats, ordering 25 percent tariffs on all Colombian goods coming into the United States. He warned that these rates would be increased to 50 percent in the next week.
In addition, Trump said he would impose “visa restrictions” and a “travel ban and immediate visa cancellation” on government officials and their family members and supporters, while tightening border inspections of all Colombian citizens and cargo. will do
What was Colombia’s reaction?
In retaliation to Trump’s threats, Petro threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on American goods as well.
The Colombian president posted a series of defiant messages on X on Sunday, responding to Trump’s threats on X.
“Your blockade does not frighten me, because Colombia, besides being a country of beauty, is the heart of the world,” he wrote in one of them.
“The United States cannot criminalize Colombian immigrants,” Petro wrote on X, also pointing out that “there are 15,660 Americans living illegally in Colombia”.
The row was resolved late on Sunday. Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo told a news conference that officials had “overcome the impasse” and would accept citizens deported from the United States. He added: “The government of Colombia… the presidential plane is ready to facilitate the return of Colombians who were arriving in the country on deportation flights this morning.”
Colombia’s statement also said Murillo and Colombia’s ambassador to the US would travel to Washington in the coming days to continue diplomatic dialogue and de-escalate tensions.
The White House echoed that in a statement, saying Colombia had agreed to all of Trump’s terms, which include “unrestricted admission of all illegal aliens from Colombia, including on U.S. military aircraft, without any restriction or delay.
What does the US import from Colombia?
If the tariff war had gone ahead, both sides would have suffered.
Between January and November 2024, U.S. Columbia imported $16 billion worth of goods, according to U.S. Census data.
According to 2022 data from the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC), the United States receives the largest supply of cut flowers from Colombia, accounting for nearly two-thirds, or 66 percent, of its flower imports from the country. It happens. Valentine’s Day, which is coming up on February 14, would have pinched Americans harder if rates kicked up.
The U.S. also sources just over 20 percent of its imported coffee from Colombia—only marginally behind Brazil, the largest supplier of coffee to the U.S.
The United States also imports crude petroleum, gold, aluminum structures, bananas, and coffee and tea extracts from Colombia. But in very small quantities.
Colombia is among a rare group of countries that have a trade deficit with Washington. In other words, the US exports more to Colombia than it imports from the South American nation.
How will the US do a trade war with Colombia?
Although the trade war made certain goods – such as flowers and coffee – more expensive for American consumers, it would have had major implications for Colombia’s economy, affecting both its exports and imports.
“These steps will have significant political and economic implications,” Victor Munoz, visiting fellow at the European Council, a Germany-based think tank on foreign relations, told Al Jazeera.
“For Colombia, such measures could mean the loss of thousands of jobs, especially in sectors such as oil and gas, gold, coffee and flowers,” he explained.
According to 2022 OEC data, the United States is the largest trading partner with Colombia, both in terms of US imports and exports. A quarter of Colombia’s exports go to the United States, and imports from the United States comprise 26.4 percent of Colombia’s total imports.
“Colombia has been working for decades to expand its trade partnerships and diversify its international relations. However, expecting Colombia to immediately find export destinations for its products and services or the scale of U.S. investment is unrealistic in the short term.
Between January and November 2024, Colombia imported $17 billion worth of goods from the United States, according to U.S. Census data.
The U.S. sent nearly $2.5 billion worth of petroleum products to Colombia in 2023, making petroleum products the most valuable U.S. export to Colombia. The next most valuable exports were maize, at $1.2bn in 2023, and chemicals, at $1bn in the same year.
Colombia also imports soybean meal and aircraft from the US, among other things.
“The yields could also trigger inflationary pressures due to the devaluation of the Colombian peso, increased economic risks and rising costs of imported goods and raw materials,” Munoz said.
“Such measures will undoubtedly have substantial economic and social impacts in affected countries such as Colombia.”
What are Exile flights and are they new?
A deportation flight is a flight that sends unauthorized immigrants back to their country of origin. Agence France-Presse reported, however, that this is the first time US military aircraft have been used to deport migrants.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, deportations are nothing new, and the United States began deporting immigrants as early as 1892, when 2,801 immigrants were removed. However, numbers skyrocketed starting in the 1990s.
When Democratic U.S. President Joe Biden took office in 2021, he promised to end deportations, but he has ramped them up, most recently deporting the largest number of immigrants in nearly a decade — the previous fiscal year. Over 271,000 during the year.
According to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) website, between 2021 and 2024, the U.S. deported 28,635 Colombian citizens. Half of them were in the 2024 fiscal year.
But Trump contested the 2024 election on allegations that the Biden administration allowed an “army” of undocumented immigrants into the country, and also made unsubstantiated claims that countries were sending violent criminals to the United States. .
He promised to carry out the “biggest deportation operation in history”.
Meanwhile, Trump has also made it clear that he intends to use tariffs as a weapon. They have threatened tougher tariffs targeting countries including China, Mexico and Canada.
