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The United States and Colombia withdrew from the trade war on Sunday, after hours of heated exchange between their leaders in public space.
After Colombia refused to accept two US military aircraft with Colombian citizens deported from the United States, Washington threatened myths and sanctions to Bogota. The United States is Colombia's largest trading partner.
US President Donald Trump and his Colombian counterpart Gustavo Petro traded pegs online Until late on Sunday, with Colombia, in the end, agreed to accept deported and the United States announced a victory. Here's more about what happened – and what was placed on a map of Washington and Bogota.
What was Trump's dispute with Colombia?
Colombia Petre Petro has declined to allow two US military aircraft carrying deported Colombian migrants to land against the background of increasing Trump repression against migration to the United States.
He accused Trump of not treating dignity and respect for deported migrants. Petro re -posted a video of X showing deported at an airport in Brazil, with his arms and legs held. “I cannot allow migrants to remain in a country that does not want them; But if this country sends them back, it must be with dignity and respect for them and our country, “he wrote.
In 2022 there were about 240,000 unauthorized Colombian immigrants in the United States, according to report by the US Department of Interior Security.
Petro has suggested sending a presidential plane to facilitate the return of migrants, which he believes is more worthy than the way the United States returns them.
Trump responded, accusing Petro of threatening the US security.
Threatening with myths and sanctions, Trump wrote on his platform Truth Social on Sunday: “These measures are only the beginning. We will not allow the Colombian government to violate its legal obligations regarding the acceptance and return of the criminals they forced to enter the United States! “
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also said on Sunday that he was authorizing visa restrictions on those Colombian officials and their families “who are responsible for intervention in US flight repatriation operations.”
What was Trump's tariff threat?
As the return and forth continued, Trump increased his threats, ordering 25 % duties on all Colombian goods coming to the United States. Then these tariffs, he warned, would be increased to 50 percent next week.
In addition, Trump said he would impose “visa sanctions” and a “ban on travel and immediate visa” on civil servants and members of their families and supporters, while tightening the border checks of all Colombian citizens and cargo.
What was Colombia's reaction?
As a revenge on Trump's threats, Petro also threatened to impose 25 % duties on American goods.
The Colombian president has published a series of challenging reports on X on Sunday, in response to Trump's threats.
“Your blockade does not scare me, because Colombia, in addition to being the side of beauty, is the heart of the world,” he wrote in one of them.
“The United States cannot treat Colombian migrants as criminals,” Petro wrote, and also said there are “15,660 Americans illegally established in Colombia.”
The dispute was resolved late on Sunday. Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo said at a press conference that authorities had “overcome the dead street” and will accept citizens deported from the United States. He added: “The Colombia Government … has a presidential plane in readiness to facilitate the return of the Colombians who would arrive in the country this morning with deportation flights.”
Colombia's statement also said that Murillo and Colombia Ambassador to the United States in the coming days will travel to Washington to continue diplomatic dialogue and reduce tensions.
The White House repeated this in a statement, saying that Colombia agreed to all Trump's conditions, including “unlimited acceptance of all illegal foreigners from Colombia returned from the United States, including US military aircraft, without restriction or delay.”
What are the US imported from Colombia?
Both sides would be injured if the tariff war continued.
Between January and November 2024, the United States imported $ 16 billion goods from Colombia, according to the US census.
The United States receives its largest delivery of cut flowers from Colombia, importing nearly two-thirds, or 66 percent of its cut flowers from the country, according to 2022 data from the Observatory of Economic Complexness (OEC). Valentine's Day, which was approaching February 14, would have pressed more Americans if the duties were in force.
The United States also supplies just over 20 percent of Colombia Coffee imports-just after Brazil, the largest coffee supplier to the United States.
The United States also imports raw oil, gold, aluminum structures, bananas and coffee and tea extracts from Colombia – but in much smaller quantities.
Colombia is among the rare group of countries that have a trade deficit with Washington. In other words, the United States exports more to Colombia than imported from the South American nation.
How will a trade war with the US affect Colombia?
Although a trade war would make certain goods – such as flowers and coffee – more expensive for US consumers, it would have greater consequences for Colombia's economy, affecting both its exports and imports.
“These measures would have significant political and economic consequences,” said Victor Munozo, a visiting contributor to the German -based cerebral trust, the European Council for Foreign Relations, before Al Jazeera.
“For Colombia, such actions can lead to the loss of thousands of jobs, especially in sectors such as oil and gas, gold, coffee and flowers,” he explained.
The United States is the largest trading partner with Colombia in terms of both imports and exports, according to OEC data from 2022. One quarter of Colombia's exports goes to the United States, and US imports make up 26.4 percent of total imports of Colombia.
“Colombia has been working for decades to expand its trade partnerships and diversify its international relations. However, the expectation of Colombia immediately replaced export destinations for its products and services or the scale of US investment is unrealistic in the short term, “Munyos said.
Between January and November 2024, Colombia imported $ 17 billion goods from the United States, according to the US census.
The United States has sent petroleum products worth about $ 2.5 billion to Colombia in 2023, making oil products the most valuable exports of the United States to Colombia. The next most valuable export is $ 1.2 billion maize in 2023 and chemicals with $ 1 billion in the same year.
Colombia also imports soy flour and planes, among other things, from the United States.
“Duties can also cause devaluation of Colombian peso, increasing economic risks and exerting inflation pressure due to increasing prices of imported goods and raw materials,” Munyos said.
“Such measures would undoubtedly create significant economic and social impacts in the countries concerned such as Colombia.”
What are deportation flights and are they new?
A deportation flight is a flight that sends unauthorized immigrants to their country of origin. However, this is the first time US military aircraft have been used to deport immigrants, according to an unnamed US employee, France reported.
Deportation is not something new and the US began to deport immigrants back in 1892, when 2801 immigrants were removed, according to the Ministry of Homeland Security. However, their number increased sharply in the 1990s.
When US President Democrat Joe Biden took office in 2021, he promised to stop deportations but expanded them, recently deported the largest number of immigrants in nearly a decade-more than 271,000 in the last fiscal year.
Between 2021 and 2024, the United States expelled 28,635 Colombian citizens, according to the US Immigration and Customs Service website (ICE). Nearly half of them were in the fiscal 2024.
But Trump competed in the 2024 election on accusations that the Biden administration allowed “hollows” immigrants without documents to enter the country, also making unjustified allegations suggesting that the countries send cruel criminals to the United States.
He promised to perform “the biggest deportment operation in history.”
Meanwhile, Trump also made it clear that he intended to use duties as a weapon. He has vowed strictly tariffs Aimed at countries, including China, Mexico and Canada.
