US suspends tariffs after Colombia agrees to deportation flights

The US will not go ahead with tariffs on Colombia, after Bogota agreed to accept – without restrictions – migrants, the White House says.

Donald Trump ordered 25% tariffs on all Colombian goods after the president blocked two US military evacuation planes from entering the country on Sunday.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro initially responded by saying that his country would accept citizens returning home on “civilian flights, not acting as terrorists”.

A statement from the White House says Columbia has now agreed to accept visitors from US military aircraft “without limitation or delay”. Colombia said talks would be held to “guarantee the dignity of our citizens”.

The White House hailed the deal with Colombia as a victory for Trump’s hardline approach, after the country’s two leaders traded threats on social media on Sunday.

Colombia’s foreign ministry said it had “overcome the conflict” with the US just hours after Petro published a lengthy article on X criticizing what he called Trump’s “blockade”.

Petro had previously refused to board US military evacuation planes, saying migrants should be returned “with dignity and respect”.

In response, Trump announced “swift and decisive retaliatory measures” in a post on his social media site Truth Social, including tariffs and visa sanctions.

Petro responded on X with a post announcing his prices and celebrating his Colombian heritage.

“Your blockade does not scare me, because Colombia, apart from being a beautiful country, is the heart of the world,” he said.

A few hours later, the two sides appeared to have resolved the dispute, and the White House said Columbia had agreed to “all of President Trump’s demands”.

Trump’s proposed tariffs are “well-documented” and would still be implemented if Colombia does not honor the deal, according to the White House.

Trump also announced visa restrictions and increased border inspections of Colombians. This will remain in place “until the first flight of deportees from Columbia is successfully returned,” the White House said.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia, Luis Gilberto Murillo, said that the country “will continue to welcome Colombians who have returned as exiles, and give them the opportunity to become citizens with rights”.

President Petro’s plane was designed to facilitate the return of Colombians who would have arrived in the country earlier during the banned military trip, he added.

Murillo will travel to Washington for key meetings in the coming hours, according to a foreign ministry statement.

The conflict between the two countries comes as the Trump administration has vowed to deport more people. The president signed several immigration-related laws on his first day in office.

Some of Trump’s major executive orders were signed with the goal of expanding the ability of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest and detain illegal immigrants in the US.

Federal agents made a “targeted” arrest in Chicago on Sunday, an ICE spokeswoman said.

The agents were accompanied by Tom Homan, a “border kingpin”, US officials told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.

Homan said Congress should increase funding for border relief, which includes the need for 100,000 beds in immigration detention centers.

Thursday, US Congress passed the Laken Riley Actwhich will greatly increase the power of immigration officials to detain migrants.

Democratic leader Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said the law represented “a serious violation of human rights”.