BOGOTA, Colombia — The White Home claimed victory in a showdown with Colombia over accepting flights of deported migrants from the U.S. on Sunday, hours after President Donald Trump threatened steep tariffs on imports and different sanctions on the longtime U.S. accomplice.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt mentioned in a late Sunday assertion that the “Authorities of Colombia has agreed to all of President Trump’s phrases, together with the unrestricted acceptance of all unlawful aliens from Colombia returned from the US, together with on U.S. navy plane, with out limitation or delay.”
Leavitt mentioned the tariff orders – which might have put in place 25% tariffs on all Colombian incoming items, after which raised to 50% in a single week – shall be “held in reserve, and never signed.” However Leavitt mentioned Trump would preserve visa restrictions on Colombian officers and enhanced customs inspections of products from the nation, “till the primary planeload of Colombian deportees is efficiently returned.”
There was no speedy response from the Colombian authorities.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows beneath.
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) – The USA and Colombia, lengthy shut companions in anti-narcotics efforts, clashed Sunday over the deportation of migrants and imposed tariffs on one another’s items in a present of what international locations may face in the event that they intervene within the Trump administration’s crackdown on unlawful immigration.
Presidents Donald Trump and Gustavo Petro, in a sequence of social media posts, defended their views on migration, with the latter accusing Trump of not treating immigrants with dignity throughout deportation and saying a retaliatory 25% improve in Colombian tariffs on U.S. items.
Earlier, the U.S. president had ordered visa restrictions, 25% tariffs on all Colombian incoming items, which might be raised to 50% in a single week, and different retaliatory measures sparked by Petro’s determination to reject two Colombia-bound U.S. navy plane carrying migrants.
Trump mentioned the measures had been essential as a result of Petro’s determination “jeopardized” nationwide safety within the U.S.
“These measures are just the start,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Reality Social. “We is not going to permit the Colombian Authorities to violate its authorized obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the Criminals they pressured into the US.”
Later Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio introduced he was authorizing the visa restrictions on Colombian authorities officers and their households “who had been accountable for the interference of U.S. repatriation flight operations.” They had been being imposed on prime of the State Division’s transfer to droop the processing of visas on the U.S. Embassy in Colombia’s capital, Bogota.
The restrictions will proceed, Rubio mentioned, “till Colombia meets its obligations to just accept the return of its personal residents.”
Earlier within the day, Petro mentioned his authorities wouldn’t settle for flights carrying migrants deported from the U.S. till the Trump administration creates a protocol that treats them with “dignity.” Petro made the announcement in two X posts, one in every of which included a information video of migrants reportedly deported to Brazil strolling on a tarmac with restraints on their fingers and toes.
“A migrant just isn’t a felony and have to be handled with the dignity {that a} human being deserves,” Petro mentioned. “That’s the reason I returned the U.S. navy planes that had been carrying Colombian migrants… In civilian planes, with out being handled like criminals, we’ll obtain our fellow residents.”
After Trump’s announcement, Petro mentioned in a publish on X that he had ordered the “international commerce minister to lift import tariffs from the U.S. by 25%.”
Colombia has historically been the U.S.’s prime ally in Latin America. However their relationship has strained since Petro, a former guerrilla, turned Colombia’s first leftist president in 2022 and sought distance from the U.S.
Colombia accepted 475 deportation flights from the U.S. from 2020 to 2024, fifth behind Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and El Salvador, in line with Witness on the Border, an advocacy group that tracks flight information. It accepted 124 deportation flights in 2024.
Colombia can also be among the many international locations that final 12 months started accepting U.S.-funded deportation flights from Panama.
The U.S. authorities did not instantly reply to a request for remark from The Related Press relating to plane and protocols utilized in deportations to Colombia.
“It is a clear message we’re sending that international locations have an obligation to just accept repatriation flights,” a senior administration official advised AP. The official spoke on the situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t approved to debate concern publicly.
Rubio in an announcement mentioned Petro “canceled his authorization” for the flights when the plane had been within the air.
Colombians emerged lately as a significant presence on the U.S. border with Mexico, aided partially by a visa regime that permits them to simply fly to Mexico and keep away from trekking although the treacherous Darien Hole. They ranked fourth with 127,604 arrests for unlawful crossings throughout a 12-month interval by way of September, behind Mexicans, Guatemalans and Venezuelans.
Mexico hasn’t imposed visa restrictions on Colombians, as they’ve on Venezuelans, Ecuadoreans and Peruvians.
Petro’s authorities in an announcement later introduced that the South American nation’s presidential plane had been made obtainable to facilitate the return of migrants who had been to reach hours earlier on the U.S. navy airplanes and assure them “dignified situations.”
As a part of a flurry of actions to make good on Trump’s marketing campaign guarantees to crack down on unlawful immigration, his authorities is utilizing active-duty navy to assist safe the border and perform deportations.
Two U.S. Air Power C-17 cargo planes carrying migrants faraway from the U.S. touched down early Friday in Guatemala. That very same day, Honduras obtained two deportation flights carrying a complete of 193 individuals.
In saying what he referred to as “pressing and decisive retaliatory measures,” Trump defined that he ordered the tariffs and “A Journey Ban and speedy Visa Revocations” on Colombian authorities officers, allies and supporters.
“All Celebration Members, Household Members, and Supporters of the Colombian Authorities,” Trump wrote shall be topic to “Visa Sanctions.” He didn’t say to which social gathering he was referring to or present any further particulars on the visa and journey restrictions.
Trump added that every one Colombians will face enhanced customs inspections.
Trump’s actions would appear to undercut his purpose to cut back his nation’s commerce deficit. In contrast to Mexico or China, Colombia is without doubt one of the few international locations with a commerce deficit with the U.S., of round $1.4 billion, in line with U.S. commerce information.
Colombia is the U.S.’s second largest purchaser of corn and corn feed, in line with the U.S. grains council, serving to increase U.S. commodity exports from farm belt states like Iowa, Indiana and Nebraska to greater than $733 million final 12 months.
The U.S. export growth has been pushed by a two-decade-old free commerce settlement between the 2 international locations, which have for lengthy been shut companions within the conflict on medicine. It’s unclear if Trump’s tariffs are allowed beneath the settlement, which comprises a dispute mechanism to resolve commerce fights.
Colombia is the U.S.’s fourth-largest abroad provider of crude oil, transport about 209,000 barrels of oil per day final 12 months, though booming home manufacturing has lowered the U.S.’ dependence on international oil. The South American nation can also be the U.S.’s largest provider of recent reduce flowers.
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Regina Garcia Cano reported from Caracas, Venezuela. Related Press writers Zeke Miller, Jill Colvin in New York, Joshua Goodman in Miami, and Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report.
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