Donald Trump unleashed a flurry of retaliatory measures in opposition to Colombia, together with 25 per cent tariffs on its items, after the Latin American nation declined entry to US navy flights deporting migrants.
Trump lashed out after Colombia’s left-wing President Gustavo Petro refused to obtain the US plane in protest in opposition to the way in which the passengers on board have been being handled.
Trump mentioned in a submit on Reality Social on Sunday that Petro’s transfer had “jeopardised the National Security and Public Safety of the United States”.
In retaliation, he introduced emergency 25 per cent tariffs which might improve to 50 per cent in every week, alongside a journey ban and “immediate visa revocations” on Colombian authorities officers “and all allies and supporters”.
“These measures are just the beginning,” Trump wrote in a submit on Reality Social. “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!”
Petro had earlier written in a submit on X that the deported migrants must be handled with “dignity and respect”.
“We will receive our fellow citizens on civilian planes, without treating them like criminals.”
Colombia has already turned away US navy plane carrying deportees this week, Petro mentioned on Sunday.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio mentioned on Sunday that Petro had initially authorised the deportation flights solely to cancel them whereas they have been within the air.
“It is the responsibility of each nation to take back their citizens who are illegally present in the United States in a serious and expeditious manner,” Rubio mentioned in a press release. “As demonstrated by today’s actions, we are unwavering in our commitment to end illegal immigration and bolster America’s border security.”
Will Freeman, a fellow for Latin American research on the Council on Overseas Relations, famous that Colombia sends nearly a 3rd of its exports to the US “so this emergency tariff and the threat to raise it further is serious”.
“It shows that wherever the Trump administration identifies the US still has leverage, it’s going to use it to the fullest to get compliance with its mass deportation policy.”
Trump has promised to hold out the biggest mass deportation of unlawful migrants in US historical past, prompting uncertainty among the many estimated 11mn undocumented immigrants within the US and resistance from would-be companions within the area.
Petro’s announcement got here a day after the Brazilian authorities condemned as “degrading” the usage of handcuffs on its nationals aboard a deportation flight from the US.
After the airplane made an unscheduled cease at Manaus on Friday as a consequence of technical issues, Brasília mentioned it prevented the flight from persevering with to the vacation spot of Belo Horizonte due to the cuffs, the “poor condition” of the plane and the “anger” of the 88 Brazilian residents over their “undignified treatment”.
Brazil’s justice minister mentioned there had been “flagrant disrespect for the fundamental rights of Brazilian citizens”.
Although Colombia and the US have lengthy been shut allies — with Washington offering round $10bn in navy and international help to Bogotá as a part of its Plan Colombia aimed toward combating insurgents and drug traffickers between 1999 and 2016 — Trump and Petro are ideologically opposed.
In 2020, Trump referred to Petro, a leftist former guerrilla, as “a major loser”. Petro has spoken out strongly in opposition to the US-led battle on medicine, and cocaine manufacturing in Colombia has soared underneath his presidency.
In one other submit on X on Sunday, Petro referred to as for “an extraordinary meeting of Latin American presidents to examine the problems of migration and the new configuration of the drug market in America”.
“It’s important for Petro and a lot of Latin American leaders to show resistance to this policy on migration,” mentioned Sergio Guzmán, director of Colombia Danger Evaluation, a Bogotá-based consultancy. “Petro is trying to show force and to project an ideological difference with Trump.”
The stream of migrants north by way of the Darién Hole, a treacherous stretch of jungle that separates Colombia and Panama, has dropped up to now yr, as has the variety of unlawful crossings into the US.
Final yr, 302,000 migrants crossed the Darién Hole, down over 40 per cent on 2023, in accordance with Panama’s international ministry, following a crackdown by Panamanian authorities on the route which is managed by legal smuggling teams.
However many migrants used authorized pathways opened by the Biden administration to cross into the US, and the general migrant numbers are nonetheless close to current file highs.
Mexico is negotiating with the US over immigration and medicines to attempt to keep away from a 25 per cent tariff on its exports to the US from subsequent week.
Mexico‘s foreign ministry said on Friday that it would always welcome Mexicans back with open arms, after NBC News reported that it had refused to take back a military flight of migrants.
Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum has stressed that while she does not agree with the deportations, Mexico will co-operate with the US and have a “good” relationship with the Trump administration.
Tom Homan, Trump’s border tsar, instructed ABC information on Sunday that if host nations refuse to obtain migrants, “then we’ll place ‘em in a third safe country”.
