Less than a week in his Presidency, Donald Trump has briefly joined his first international tariff dispute. And the goal was not China, Mexico or Canada – frequent objects of his rage – it was Colombia, one of the closest allies in America in South America.
Colombia's crime refused to allow two flights to the United States, carrying deported land migrants because they were military, not civilian, transport aircraft. That was enough to encourage Trump to threaten to release the hammer.
“We will not allow the Colombian government to violate its legal obligations regarding the acceptance and return of the criminals they forced to the United States,” Trump published on his social media site.
Along with 25%, Tariffs said he would impose Trump said the US would introduce a ban on travel and “immediate visa” to the Colombian government, as well as his allies and supporters.
But later, the White House said Colombia has now agreed to accept migrants arriving on US military aircraft, “without restriction or delay.” As a result, the US will not move forward with the tariffs.
For his first week of his post, the US president seemed to prioritize executive action in terms of immigration in commercial measures – even if the latter was a key promise for a campaign. As if to get to this point at home, Trump now seems ready to punish the nations he thinks is not enough supporting new hard immigration policies in America.
He serves a warning to us allies and opponents: if you do not cooperate with the United States, the consequences will be grave.
Colombia gave way to the Tariff War, but tactics are testing the new Trump administration.
If future sanctions lead to higher prices for US consumers, the US public site? Will they be ready to tolerate some financial pain that has arisen to progress Trump's immigration priorities?
The United States imports about 27% of its coffee from Colombia, according to the US Department of Agriculture, as well as other goods such as bananas, crude oil, avocado and flowers. Coffee imports alone costs nearly $ 2 billion ($ 1.6 billion).
Colombia President Gustavo Petroleum initially replied, stating that his country would accept repatriated citizens of “civil planes without treating them as criminals.”
It's no secret that Petro dislike Donald Trump – he greatly criticized his policies for migration and the environment in the past.
In a long response to X, he said Trump would “erase the human appearance for greed” and accused the US president of considers the Colombians a “lower race”.
Petro continued to be described as “stubborn” and said that while Trump could try to “make a coup” with “economic power and arrogance”, he would briefly fight.
Most importantly, Petro said: “From today on, Colombia is open throughout the world, with open arms.”
This is something that must be worried about the US president who wants to deal with migration. His incoming administration employees have clarified that this mission will require to look beyond Mexico.
Trump's choice for Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau has long claimed that “working with other countries to stop such migrating streams” must be a “global imperative of US foreign policy”. SPAT on Sunday can make work together much less likely.
Tens of thousands of migrants every year from all over the world, from India to China, head north to the United States after landing in South America and traveling up through Colombia through the Darien-Key Post of Choking Right North of the Panama Border -Columbia. This is a dangerous trip, usually facilitated by criminal gangs.
In his response to Trump's actions, President Petro noted that if the negotiations on migration management through Darien are stopped, “illegal activities will increase.” These comments could be considered as a veiled threat of more undocumented migrants along the way.
Petro quickly said his country would not refuse Colombian citizens deported from the United States – but they need to receive “decent treatment”.
Even after Colombia acted to defuse the dispute, she said that a dialogue would be maintained to “guarantee the dignity of our citizens”.
But these types of tariffs are a test of will – and can still be applied to other nations that do not agree with the US demands. From the appearance, this is simply the initial course of Trump.