- President Trump stated the US would challenge 25% tariffs on Colombia after it rejected deportation flights.
- Colombian President Gustavo Petro halted flights with deported migrants from touchdown in his nation.
- However the White Home reversed course, saying it had struck a take care of Colombia.
The Trump White Home on Sunday walked again its tariff threats on Colombia, hours after it stated it might impose 25% tariffs on items from the nation.
“The Authorities of Colombia has agreed to all of President Trump’s phrases, together with the unrestricted acceptance of all unlawful aliens from Colombia returned from the US, together with on U.S. army plane, with out limitation or delay,” White Home Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated in a Sunday assertion on X.
Earlier on Sunday, President Donald Trump stated the US will impose tariffs on Colombia after its president turned away two flights carrying deported migrants.
“A migrant just isn’t a felony and should be handled with the dignity {that a} human being deserves,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro stated on Sunday. “That’s the reason I returned the US army planes that have been carrying Colombian migrants.”
Trump responded on Fact Social, asserting speedy tariffs and vowing they’d enhance if Petro did not comply.
“I’ve directed my Administration to instantly take the next pressing and decisive retaliatory measures: Emergency 25% tariffs on all items coming into the US,” he stated. “In a single week, the 25% tariffs can be raised to 50%.”
Trump additionally imposed a journey ban on Colombian authorities officers and visa sanctions on people tied to the nation’s authorities.
“These measures are just the start,” the president stated. “We is not going to permit the Colombian Authorities to violate its authorized obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the Criminals they compelled into the US!”
Petro stated in a press release on X he would obtain Colombians “on civilian planes, with out treating them like criminals.”
Within the White Home’s assertion on X, Leavitt stated that the tariffs and sanctions “can be held in reserve” except Colombia “fails to honor this settlement.”
Petro reposted Leavitt’s X assertion.
America is Colombia’s largest buying and selling associate. Among the main Colombian exports to the US embody espresso, bananas, flowers, and crude oil.
Trump’s posture on the repatriation of migrants has rankled some governments in Latin America. NBC Information reported that Mexico on Thursday additionally refused to permit a US army flight carrying migrants to land within the nation.
Trump has lengthy made immigration a central challenge. Whereas President Joe Biden was in workplace, Trump railed towards the variety of migrants who crossed the US southern border, making the problem a centerpiece of his 2024 marketing campaign.
Trump pledged throughout the marketing campaign to enact the most important mass deportation plan in US historical past as soon as he assumed workplace for his second time period.
