Colombia-USA tariff exchange!
Photograph showing the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro and the president of the United States, Donald Trump Jan 26, 2025. EFE/ Mauricio Dueñas Castañeda / Anna Moneymaker

Colombia-USA tariff exchange!

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Bogotá, Jan 26 (EFE) –

Colombian President Gustavo Petro ordered a 25% tariff on imports from the United States on Sunday in response to US President Donald Trump’s decision to impose a 25% tariff on all Colombian products.

“I order the Minister of Foreign Trade to increase the tariffs on imports from the United States by 25%. The Ministry must help us direct our exports to the whole world outside the US. Our exports must expand,” Petro said in his X account.

Petro invited “Colombian communities abroad to be marketers of our products” in an apparent attempt to compensate for the loss of the US market.

“North American products, whose price will rise in the national economy, must be replaced by national production, the government will help in this purpose,” added the president.

The diplomatic crisis between Colombia and the United States sparked on Sunday morning after Petro refused to allow the entry of two military planes carrying Colombian deportees unless they received “decent” treatment.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said: “Colombian President Petro had authorized flights and provided all needed authorizations and then canceled his authorization when the planes were in the air.”

In response to Petro’s decision, Trump ordered a 25% tariff on all Colombian products and announced that it would “increase to 50%” in a week.

He also announced visa restrictions for Petro’s government and his party, possible economic sanctions against the country, and “inspections” of Colombian citizens and goods entering the US.

Other Colombian politicians and trade institutions expressed concern over Gustavo Petro’s actions and the subsequent retaliation and called for calm.

“If the US imposes emergency tariffs of 25% (and then 50%) on Colombian products, the effects will be immediate and devastating (…) and will seriously affect our economy,” said the president of the Colombian-American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham Colombia) María Claudia Lacouture.

“This is a serious diplomatic crisis that benefits no one. We demand that the country’s diplomatic relations be handled in a serious, rational, and responsible manner, taking into account the rights of all Colombians and the interests of Colombia,” said the mayor of Bogotá, Carlos Fernando Galán.

Meanwhile, in the United States, the two senators of Colombian origin, Republican Bernie Moreno of Ohio and Democrat Rubén Gallego of Arizona, expressed opposing views.

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“The Socialist President of Colombia failed to understand that President Trump isn’t Joe Biden,” said Moreno, who also said he would “introduce legislation to impose new sanctions on Colombia for refusing Donald Trump’s migrant repatriation flights.”

Gallego expressed his concern saying “Trump’s strategy of antagonizing our allies is not smart policy—it just endangers decades of partnership with Colombia. We can’t act like this is some sort of 3D chess.”

“This could’ve been handled with a simple phone call,” Gallego added.

Petro has recently questioned some of Trump’s decisions or policies, and on Tuesday he called Trump’s comment about Latin America “dangerous,” adding, “We don’t need them.”

Brazil, Mexico, and Guatemala have also disapproved of the incoming administration’s procedures for deporting migrants, which have included the use of military planes and handcuffing deportees. EFE jga/mcd

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