White Home says Colombia agrees to take deported migrants after Trump tariff menace

BOGOTA, Colombia — The White Home claimed victory in a showdown with Colombia over accepting flights of deported migrants from the U.S. on Sunday, hours after President Donald Trump threatened steep tariffs on imports and different sanctions on the longtime U.S. associate.

Lengthy shut companions in anti-narcotics efforts, the U.S. and Colombia clashed Sunday over the deportation of migrants and imposed tariffs on one another’s items in a present of what different international locations may face in the event that they intervene within the Trump administration’s crackdown on unlawful immigration. The White Home held up the episode as a warning to different nations who would possibly search to impede his plans.

Earlier, the U.S. president had ordered visa restrictions, 25% tariffs on all Colombian incoming items, which might be raised to 50% in a single week, and different retaliatory measures sparked by President Gustavo Petro’s determination to reject two Colombia-bound U.S. navy plane carrying migrants after Petro accused Trump of not treating immigrants with dignity throughout deportation. Petro additionally introduced a retaliatory 25% enhance in Colombian tariffs on U.S. items.

Trump stated the measures have been vital as a result of Petro’s determination “jeopardized” nationwide safety within the U.S. by blocking the deportation flights.

“These measures are just the beginning,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Fact 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.”

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated in a late Sunday assertion that 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.”

Leavitt stated the tariff orders will probably be “held in reserve, and not signed.” However Leavitt stated Trump would keep visa restrictions on Colombian officers and enhanced customs inspections of products from the nation, “until the first planeload of Colombian deportees is successfully returned.”

The Colombian authorities late Sunday stated it thought-about as “overcome” the episode with the Trump administration and Petro reposted the assertion from the White Home on X.

“We have overcome the impasse with the United States government,” stated Colombian International Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo. “We will continue to receive Colombians who return as deportees, guaranteeing them decent conditions as citizens subject to rights.”

Murillo added that the South American nation’s presidential plane is accessible to facilitate the return of migrants who have been to reach hours earlier on the U.S. navy airplanes.

Earlier Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio introduced he was authorizing the visa restrictions on Colombian authorities officers and their households “who were responsible for the interference of U.S. repatriation flight operations.” They have been being imposed on prime of the State Division’s transfer to droop the processing of visas on the U.S. Embassy in Colombia’s capital, Bogota.

Petro had stated earlier that his authorities wouldn’t settle for flights carrying migrants deported from the U.S. till the Trump administration creates a protocol that treats them with “dignity.” Petro made the announcement in two X posts, one among which included a information video of migrants reportedly deported to Brazil strolling on a tarmac with restraints on their arms and ft.

“A migrant is not a criminal and must be treated with the dignity that a human being deserves,” Petro stated. “That is why I returned the U.S. military planes that were carrying Colombian migrants… In civilian planes, without being treated like criminals, we will receive our fellow citizens.”

After Trump’s earlier tariff menace, Petro stated in a put up on X that he had ordered the “foreign trade minister to raise import tariffs from the U.S. by 25%.”

Colombia has historically been the U.S.’s prime ally in Latin America. However their relationship has strained since Petro, a former guerrilla, turned Colombia’s first leftist president in 2022 and sought distance from the U.S.

Colombia accepted 475 deportation flights from the U.S. from 2020 to 2024, fifth behind Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and El Salvador, in accordance with Witness on the Border, an advocacy group that tracks flight information. It accepted 124 deportation flights in 2024.

Colombia can also be among the many international locations that final 12 months started accepting U.S.-funded deportation flights from Panama.

The U.S. authorities did not instantly reply to a request for remark from The Related Press relating to plane and protocols utilized in deportations to Colombia.

“This is a clear message we are sending that countries have an obligation to accept repatriation flights,” a senior administration official informed AP. The official spoke on the situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t licensed to debate problem publicly.

Rubio in a press release stated Petro “canceled his authorization” for the flights when the plane have been within the air.

Colombians emerged lately as a serious presence on the U.S. border with Mexico, aided partly by a visa regime that permits them to simply fly to Mexico and keep away from trekking although the treacherous Darien Hole. They ranked fourth with 127,604 arrests for unlawful crossings throughout a 12-month interval by way of September, behind Mexicans, Guatemalans and Venezuelans.

Mexico hasn’t imposed visa restrictions on Colombians, as they’ve on Venezuelans, Ecuadoreans and Peruvians.

Petro’s authorities in a press release later introduced that the South American nation’s presidential plane had been made accessible to facilitate the return of migrants who have been to reach hours earlier on the U.S. navy airplanes and assure them “dignified conditions.”

As a part of a flurry of actions to make good on Trump’s marketing campaign guarantees to crack down on unlawful immigration, his authorities is utilizing active-duty navy to assist safe the border and perform deportations.

Two U.S. Air Drive C-17 cargo planes carrying migrants faraway from the U.S. touched down early Friday in Guatemala. That very same day, Honduras acquired two deportation flights carrying a complete of 193 folks.

Colombia is the U.S.’s fourth-largest abroad provider of crude oil, delivery about 209,000 barrels of oil per day final 12 months, though booming home manufacturing has decreased the U.S.’ dependence on international oil. The South American nation can also be the U.S.’s largest provider of recent reduce flowers.