President Donald Trump will not be imposing retaliatory tariffs on Colombia after threatening the country for having turned away two U.S. military aircraft carrying deportees on Sunday.
The Trump administration and Columbia came to an agreement Sunday night to settle a dispute involving deportation flights that escalated when socialist Colombian President Gustavo Petro turned away two U.S. military aircraft carrying illegal migrants, causing Trump to respond with plans to carry out several retaliatory measures to get Colombia to cooperate.
“The Government of Colombia has agreed to all of President Trump’s terms, including the unrestricted acceptance of all illegal aliens from Colombia returned from the United States, including on U.S. military aircraft, without limitation or delay,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that Petro subsequently reposted on X.
“Today’s event make clear to the world that America is respected again. President Trump will continue to fiercely protect our nation’s sovereignty, and he expects all other nations of the world to fully cooperate in accepting the deportation of their citizens illegally present in the United States.”
The Colombian government released a statement confirming that they came to an agreement with the U.S. and will be sending its top diplomats to Washington, D.C., for talks.
The Trump administration is keeping visa sanctions and enhanced border patrol inspections in place until the first plane of deportees is returned to Colombia. Last week, the U.S. began using deportation flights to help carry out Trump’s mass deportations of illegal immigrants. A major campaign promise, the Trump administration has already begun deporting hundreds of illegal immigrants each day, with a focus on violent criminals to start with.
At first, Petro said he was blocking the flights from entering the country because the U.S. “can’t treat Colombian migrants like criminals,” and he insisted upon the use of civilian planes to transport the detainees.
Trump then said he would impose a 25 percent tariff on all goods entering the U.S. from Colombia, which would increase to 50 percent in one week.
The American president, who said Petro’s actions amounted to a threat to U.S. national security and public safety, also said he was calling for a travel ban and “immediate Visa Revocations on the Colombian Government Officials, and all Allies and Supporters” and visa sanctions on “all Party Members, Family Members, and Supporters of the Colombian Government.”
Moreover, he ordered enhanced Customs and Border Protection inspections for all Colombian nationals and cargo “on national security grounds.” He said he would also call for “IEEPA Treasury, Banking and Financial Sanctions to be fully imposed.”
“These measures are just the beginning. We will not allow the Colombian Government to violate its legal obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the Criminals they forced into the United States!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
After Trump’s threats, Petro seemingly backed down, offering the use of his presidential plane to help repatriate deportees from the U.S. on Sunday. Then, he declared that Colombia would be imposing 50 percent retaliatory tariffs, potentially increasing the prices of certain U.S. imports.
One Trump administration official told CNN that the U.S. was caught by surprise when Colombia would not allow the flight to enter its territory as Colombian authorities had approved the two flights prior to takeoff, according to documents reviewed by the outlet.
“You can’t go out there and publicly defy us in that way,” the unnamed official told CNN. “We’re going to make sure the world knows they can’t get away with being non serious and deceptive.”
Colombia briefly became the first nation to fight against Trump’s immigration agenda with the Sunday squabble. The public dispute was the latest instance of Trump threatening to apply of tariffs on a neighboring country to ensure it cooperates with the U.S. on curtailing illegal immigration.