Colombia is underestimating the deportation trips after Trump’s threat to impose customs duties

It appears that an imminent trade war has been avoided between the United States and Colombia after the Colombian government agreed to allow US military air flights carrying immigrants to land in the country in the Andes.

The dispute broke out on Sunday when President Gustavo Petro prevented two military planes carrying Colombians who were deported from the United States from landing.

The Trump administration has been threatened with imposing punitive customs duties on Colombian exports to the United States.

President Petro initially said that Colombia would respond by imposing customs duties on American goods, but the White House later announced that Colombia agreed to accept migrants – including those who arrive on US military aircraft – “without restrictions or delay.”

The White House praised the agreement with Colombia, describing it as a victory for the Trump militant approach after the country’s leader exchanged threats on social media on Sunday.

“Today’s events explain to the world that America is respected again,” wrote the White House press secretary Caroline Levitte in a statement.

She added that the customs duties and the penalties that the Trump administration threatened to impose on Colombia, in the event that they are not complied with, “will remain reserves, and will not be signed, unless Colombia respects this agreement.”

She also said that President Donald Trump “expects all other countries of the world to fully cooperate in accepting the illegal deportation of its citizens in the United States.”

The cornerstone of Trump’s immigration policy is to remove illegal immigrants from the United States, with a promise to “collective deportation”.

The dispute rapidly escalated between the Left Colombian President and Trump on Sunday.

Petro, an enthusiastic user of social media, posted on the X that “prevented American aircraft carrying Colombian immigrants from entering our lands” because “the United States cannot treat Colombian immigrants like criminals.”

He called on the United States to put measures to “treat migrants with dignity.”

He also said he was ready to send the presidential plane to the United States to transport immigrants.

Colombia has accepted deportations from the United States in the past. In 2024, 124 aircraft carrying deported immigrants from the United States landed in the country.

But it seems that President Petro objects to the return of the deportees on military, not commercial flights, and the way immigrants may be treated on those trips.

In his post on X, Petro pointed to a news video showing migrants deported from the United States to Brazil, and their hands were restricted and their feet were restricted during the deportation trip.

He said, “The Colombian will never be allowed to restore hands on flights.”

Petro’s refusal to allow two US military planes carrying the Colombian deportees to land, rapidly reaction from Trump on Truth Social.

“It was just reported that the two -return flights of the United States, with a large number of illegal criminals, were not allowed to land in Colombia. This was issued by the Colombian Socialist President Gustavo Petro, who is already unpopular among his people,” wrote.

Trump said that Petro’s refusal of these flights had endangered the National Security and Public Safety of the United States.

He said he ordered his administration to impose “immediate” customs duties by 25% on all Colombian goods coming to the United States, which he said would rise to 50% if Colombia did not comply within a week.

He also said that he imposed a ban on travel and canceled entry visas for Colombian government officials “and all allies and supporters.”

In his post, he warned that “these measures are just the beginning.”

Petro responded to X with a long and branched post, but in the end he was challenging, in which he said he would match any definitions imposed by the United States.

He wrote: “Your siege does not frighten me, because Colombia, besides being the country of beauty, is the heart of the world.”

Meanwhile, Petro Administration members worked behind the scenes to defuse the dispute.

At a late news conference, Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Morillo announced that the two countries “have passed the dilemma” and that Colombia will accept the returning citizens.

Although Morillo did not refer directly to the White House statement, according to which Colombia agreed to allow US military air flights to return the two departments, he did not deny this either.

The Foreign Minister repeated the offer of Colombia to send its presidential plane to the United States to transport the deportees.

While it seems that the Colombian concession has succeeded in avoiding the imminent trade war, the United States said that the restrictions imposed on granting visas to Colombian government officials will remain valid until the first plane loaded with the two phases in Colombia will land.

The Trump administration said that the Colombians who arrive at American airports will also undergo a greater auditing under the procedures imposed on Sunday.

Colombia Foreign Minister said he would travel to Washington “in the coming days” to hold high -level meetings with administration officials.

This dispute represents a low point in relations between the two countries, which were historically allies and cooperation closely in the war against drug trafficking, as the United States provided billions of dollars in the form of military aid and training of the Colombian security forces.

The punitive definitions such as those that Trump and Petro threatened to harm the Colombian producers and American consumers.

The value of trade between the two countries reached 53.5 billion dollars (42.8 billion pounds) in 2022, According to the US Trade Actor Office.

Colombia’s major exports to the United States are oil, coffee and flowers.

“We remember: We pay customs duties, not Colombia.”

“Trump is about to make every American pay more for coffee,” she wrote before the customs duties.

Follow the fluctuations and turns witnessed in the second presidential term Trump with the North American correspondent Anthony Zorre American policy is not woven Newsletter. Readers in the United Kingdom can Register here. Those who are outside the United Kingdom can Register here.