Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Donald Trump unleashed a flurry of retaliatory measures against Colombia, including a 25 percent tariff on its goods, after the Latin American country refused entry to US military flights deporting migrants.
Trump condemned Colombia’s left-wing President Gustavo Petro after he refused to accept the US plane in protest at the way passengers on board were being treated.
Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Sunday that Petro’s actions “threaten the national security and public safety of the United States”.
In retaliation, he announced an emergency 25 percent tariff that would rise to 50 percent in a week, as well as a travel ban and “immediate visa revocation” on Colombian government officials “and all allies and supporters.”
He announced increased border inspections of all Colombian citizens and cargo.
“These measures are just the beginning,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “We will not allow the Colombian government to violate its legal obligations to forcibly accept and return criminals to the United States!”
Petro previously wrote in a post on X that deported migrants should be treated with “dignity and respect”.
“We will receive our fellow citizens on civilian aircraft, not treat them like criminals.”
Colombia has already turned back a US military plane carrying the deportees this week, Petro said on Sunday. A US official told Reuters that two flights carrying a total of 160 deportees were denied entry.
“Colombia sends about a third of its exports to the United States so these emergency tariffs and the threat of further increases are serious,” said Will Freeman, fellow in Latin American Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
“It shows that wherever the Trump administration recognizes that the United States still has leverage, it is going to use it to the full to get compliance with its mass deportation policy.”
Trump has promised the largest mass deportation of illegal immigrants in US history, sparking uncertainty among the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US and resistance from partners in the region.
Petro’s announcement came a day after the Brazilian government condemned as “humiliating” the use of handcuffs on its citizens on deportation flights from the United States.
After the flight made an unscheduled stop in Manaus on Friday due to technical problems, Brasilia said it had prevented the flight from continuing to Belo Horizonte due to the cuff, the plane’s “poor condition” and the plane’s “anger.” 88 Brazilian nationals for their “disrespectful behavior”.
Brazil’s justice minister said there had been a “clear disrespect for the fundamental rights of Brazilian citizens” and its foreign ministry vowed to demand an explanation from US officials.
For Brazil, a country with a long history of slavery, the use of cuffs to bind its citizens is particularly sensitive.
Although Colombia and the United States have long been close allies — Washington provided Bogotá with nearly $10 billion in military and foreign aid between 1999 and 2016 to fight insurgents and drug traffickers — Trump and Petro are ideologically opposed.
In 2020, Trump referred to Petro, a leftist ex-guerrilla, as “a big loser”. Petro has spoken out strongly against the US-led war on drugs, and cocaine production in Colombia has increased under his presidency.
In another post on Sunday X, Petro called for an “extraordinary meeting of Latin American presidents to examine the issue of immigration and the new configuration of the drug market in America.”
“It’s important for Petro and many Latin American leaders to show resistance to this policy on immigration,” said Sergio Guzmán, director of Colombia Risk Analysis, a Bogota-based consultancy. “Petro is trying to show strength and highlight an ideological difference with Trump.”
The flow of migrants north through the Darien Gap, a treacherous stretch of jungle separating Colombia and Panama, has declined in the past year, as has the number of illegal crossings into the United States.
Last year, 302,000 migrants crossed the Darien Gap, a drop of more than 40 percent in 2023, according to Panama’s foreign ministry, following a crackdown by Panamanian authorities on routes controlled by criminal smuggling groups.
Venezuelans, fleeing repression and economic collapse, make up about 210,000 migrants, followed by 17,500 Colombians.
But many immigrants used the Biden administration’s open legal pathways to cross into the U.S., and overall immigration numbers are still near recent record highs.
Mexico is negotiating with the U.S. on immigration and drugs to avoid a 25 percent tariff on exports to the U.S. starting next week.
Mexico’s foreign ministry said Friday it will always welcome Mexicans with open arms, after NBC News reported it had refused to turn back a military flight of migrants.
Mexican President Claudia Shinbaum Insisted that while he disagreed with deportations, Mexico would cooperate with the United States and maintain “good” relations with the Trump administration.
Trump’s border czar Tom Homan told ABC News on Sunday that if host countries refuse to accept migrants, “then we will put them in a third safe country”.
D US Department of Homeland Security And the Customs and Border Protection Agency did not respond to requests for comment about the deportation flight.
