America and Colombia pulled again down from a commerce warfare on Sunday, after hours of heated exchanges between their leaders in public.
After Colombia refused to simply accept two US navy plane with Colombian residents deported from the US, Washington threatened tariffs and sanctions on Bogota. The US is Colombia’s largest buying and selling accomplice.
US President Donald Trump and Colombian counterpart Gustavo Petro traded barbs online till late on Sunday, with Colombia ultimately agreeing to simply accept deportees and the US claiming victory. Right here is extra about what occurred — and what was at stake for Washington and Bogota.
What was Trump’s row with Colombia about?
Colombian President Petro refused to let two US navy plane carrying deported Colombian migrants land, amid Trump’s intensifying crackdown on migration to the US.
He accused Trump of not treating the deported migrants with dignity or respect. Petro reposted a video on X exhibiting deportees in an airport in Brazil, with their arms and ft restrained. “I can’t enable migrants to stay in a rustic that doesn’t need them; but when that nation sends them again, it should be with dignity and respect for them and for our nation,” he wrote.
In 2022, there have been an estimated 240,000 unauthorised Colombian immigrants within the US, in response to a report by the US Division of Homeland Safety.
Petro supplied to ship a presidential aircraft to facilitate the return of the migrants, which he argued was extra dignified than how the US was sending them again.
Trump hit again, accusing Petro of jeopardising US safety.
Threatening tariffs and sanctions, Trump wrote on his Fact Social platform on Sunday: “These measures are only the start. We is not going to enable the Colombian Authorities to violate its authorized obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the Criminals they pressured into america!”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio additionally stated on Sunday that he was authorising visa restrictions on these Colombian officers and their households “who have been chargeable for the interference of US repatriation flight operations”.
What was Trump’s tariff menace?
Because the back-and-forth continued, Trump upped his threats, ordering 25 p.c tariffs on all Colombian items coming into the US. These tariffs, he warned, would then be raised to 50 p.c within the following week.
As well as, Trump stated he would impose “visa sanctions” and a “journey ban and quick visa revocations” on authorities officers and their members of the family and supporters, whereas tightening border inspections of all Colombian nationals and cargo.
What was Colombia’s response?
In retaliation to Trump’s threats, Petro threatened to additionally impose 25 p.c tariffs on US items.
The Colombian president posted a collection of defiant messages on X on Sunday, responding to Trump’s threats.
“Your blockade doesn’t scare me, as a result of Colombia, moreover being the nation of magnificence, is the guts of the world,” he wrote in one among them.
“The US can’t deal with Colombian migrants as criminals,” Petro wrote on X, additionally mentioning that there are “15,660 Individuals irregularly settled in Colombia”.
The row was resolved late on Sunday. Colombian Overseas Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo advised a information convention that officers had “overcome the deadlock” and would settle for residents deported from the US. He added: “The federal government of Colombia … has the presidential aircraft able to facilitate the return of Colombians who have been going to reach within the nation this morning on deportation flights.”
Colombia’s assertion moreover stated that Murillo and Colombia’s ambassador to the US would, within the upcoming days, journey to Washington to proceed diplomatic dialogue and ease tensions.
The White Home echoed this in a press release, saying Colombia had agreed to all of Trump’s phrases, together with “unrestricted acceptance of all unlawful aliens from Colombia returned from america, together with on US navy plane, with out limitation or delay”.
What does the US import from Colombia?
Either side would have been harm had the tariff warfare gone forward.
Between January and November 2024, the US imported items price $16bn from Colombia, in response to US Census knowledge.
The US receives its largest provide of minimize flowers from Colombia, importing practically two-thirds, or 66 p.c of its minimize flowers from the nation, in response to 2022 knowledge from the Observatory of Financial Complexity (OEC). Valentine’s Day, arising on February 14, would have pinched Individuals extra had the tariffs kicked in.
The US additionally sources simply over 20 p.c of its imported espresso from Colombia — solely marginally behind Brazil, the biggest provider of espresso to the US.
The US additionally imports crude petroleum, gold, aluminium buildings, bananas, and occasional and tea extracts from Colombia — however in a lot smaller portions.
Colombia is among the many uncommon group of nations which have a commerce deficit with Washington. In different phrases, the US exports extra to Colombia than it imports from the South American nation.
How would a commerce warfare with the US impression Colombia?
Whereas a commerce warfare would have made particular items — like flowers and occasional — costlier for US customers, it might have had bigger implications for Colombia’s financial system, impacting each its exports and imports.
“These measures would have important political and financial implications,” Victor Munoz, a visiting fellow at Germany-based assume tank, European Council on Overseas Relations, advised Al Jazeera.
“For Colombia, such actions may result in the lack of hundreds of jobs, notably in sectors like oil and gasoline, gold, espresso, and flowers,” he defined.
The US is the biggest buying and selling accomplice with Colombia by way of each imports and exports, in response to OEC knowledge from 2022. 1 / 4 of Colombia’s exports go to the US, and the imports from the US comprise 26.4 p.c of Colombia’s whole imports.
“Colombia has been working for many years to increase its industrial partnerships and diversify its worldwide relations. Nonetheless, anticipating Colombia to instantly exchange the export locations for its services and products or the size of US investments is unrealistic within the quick time period,” Munoz stated.
Between January and November 2024, Colombia imported items price $17bn from the US, in response to US Census knowledge.
The US despatched about $2.5bn price of petroleum merchandise to Colombia in 2023, making petroleum merchandise the US’s most beneficial export to Colombia. The following most beneficial export was corn, at $1.2bn in 2023, and chemical substances, at $1bn in the identical 12 months.
Colombia additionally imports soybean meal and planes, amongst different issues, from the US.
“Tariffs may additionally set off a devaluation of the Colombian peso, growing financial dangers and exerting inflationary strain because of the rising prices of imported items and uncooked supplies,” Munoz stated.
“Such measures would undoubtedly create substantial financial and social impacts within the affected international locations like Colombia.”
What are deportation flights and are they new?
A deportation flight is a flight sending unauthorised immigrants to their nation of origin. Nonetheless, that is the primary time US navy plane are getting used to deport immigrants, in response to an unnamed US official, Agence France-Presse reported.
Deportation just isn’t new, and the US started deporting immigrants beginning as early as 1892, when 2,801 immigrants have been eliminated, in response to the Division of Homeland Safety. Nonetheless, the quantity skyrocketed beginning within the Nineties.
When Democratic US President Joe Biden took workplace in 2021, he had promised to pause deportations, however he expanded them, lately deporting the very best variety of immigrants in practically a decade – greater than 271,000 over the past fiscal 12 months.
Between 2021 and 2024, the US expelled 28,635 Colombian residents, in response to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) web site. Practically half of those have been within the fiscal 12 months of 2024.
However Trump contested the 2024 election on accusations that the Biden administration allowed “hordes” of undocumented immigrants to enter the nation, additionally making unsubstantiated claims suggesting that international locations have been sending violent criminals to the US.
He promised that he would perform the “largest deportation operation in historical past”.
In the meantime, Trump has additionally made clear that he intends to make use of tariffs as a weapon. He has threatened stringent tariffs concentrating on international locations together with China, Mexico and Canada.
