How Trump coerced Colombia to accept deportees by threatening US tariff war

After hours of heated exchanges between their leaders in public, the US and Colombia pulled out of a trade dispute on Sunday.

Washington threatened tariffs and sanctions against Bogota after Colombia refused to accept two US military aircraft carrying Colombians who had been deported from the US. The US is Colombia’s largest trading partner.

Till late on Sunday, Colombia agreed to accept deportees and the US claimed victory in an online dispute that ended with Donald Trump and his Colombian counterpart Gustavo Petro. What actually transpired and what was in danger for Washington and Bogota are more detailed below.

What was Trump’s row with Colombia about?

In response to Trump’s growing crackdown on immigration to the US, Colombian President Petro refused to let two US military aircraft carrying deported Colombian migrants land.

He claimed that Trump had disrespected the deported migrants. A video of deported detainees restrained in an airport in Brazil was reposted by Petroetro. If a nation sends migrants back, it must be with dignity and respect for them and for our country, he wrote. “I cannot allow them to stay in a country that doesn’t want them.”

According to a report released by the US Department of Homeland Security, there were 240, 000 unauthorised Colombian immigrants in the US in 2022.

Petro made an offer to fly the president’s plane to facilitate the migrants’ return, which he claimed was more dignified than the US’s return.

Trump hit back, accusing Petro of jeopardising US security.

Threatening tariffs and sanctions, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Sunday: “These measures are just the beginning. We will not allow the Colombian government to violate its legal responsibilities in regards to the detention and deportation of the criminals they forced into the United States.

Marco Rubio, the US’s secretary of state, added on Sunday that he was enforcing visa restrictions for Colombian officials and their families, who “were to be involved in the US repatriation flight operations.”

What was Trump’s tariff threat?

As the back-and-forth continued, Trump upped his threats, ordering 25 percent tariffs on all Colombian goods coming into the US. These tariffs, he warned, would then be raised to 50 percent in the following week.

In addition, Trump said he would impose “visa sanctions” and a “travel ban and immediate visa revocations” on government officials and their family members and supporters, while tightening border inspections of all Colombian nationals and cargo.

What was Colombia’s reaction?

In retaliation to Trump’s threats, Petro threatened to also impose 25 percent tariffs on US goods.

The Colombian president posted a series of defiant messages on X on Sunday, responding to Trump’s threats.

“Your blockade does not scare me, because Colombia, besides being the country of beauty, is the heart of the world”, he wrote in one of them.

“The US cannot treat Colombian migrants as criminals”, Petro wrote on X, also pointing out that there are “15, 660 Americans irregularly settled in Colombia”.

The row was resolved late on Sunday. According to Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo, authorities have “overcomed the impasse” and will accept US citizens deported. He continued, “Colombia’s government has the presidential plane ready to facilitate the return of Colombians who were scheduled to travel there this morning on deportation flights.”

Colombia’s statement additionally said that Murillo and Colombia’s ambassador to the US would, in the upcoming days, travel to Washington to continue diplomatic dialogue and ease tensions.

Colombia adhered to all of Trump’s demands, including “unrestricted acceptance of all illegal aliens from Colombia, including on US military aircraft, without limitation or delay,” in a statement from the White House.

What does the US import from Colombia?

If the tariff war had continued, both sides would have suffered.

Between January and November 2024, the US imported goods worth $16bn from Colombia, according to US Census data.

The US receives its largest supply 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 Complexity (OEC). Valentine’s Day, coming up on February 14, would have pinched Americans more had the tariffs kicked in.

Colombia accounts for just under 20% of US coffee imports, only slightly behind Brazil, the country’s top coffee exporter.

The US also imports crude petroleum, gold, aluminium structures, bananas, and coffee and tea extracts from Colombia — but in much smaller quantities.

Colombia is one of the few nations with a trade deficit with Washington. In other words, the US exports more goods from Colombia than it does from the South American country.

What effects might Colombia have if the US and China trade?

While a trade war would have made specific goods — like flowers and coffee — costlier for US consumers, &nbsp, it would have had larger implications for Colombia’s economy, impacting both its exports and imports.

“These measures would have significant political and economic implications”, Victor Munoz, a visiting fellow at Germany-based think tank, European Council on Foreign Relations, told Al Jazeera.

“For Colombia, such actions could lead to the loss of thousands of jobs, particularly in sectors like oil and gas, gold, coffee, and flowers”, he explained.

According to OEC data from 2022, the US and Colombia trade both more heavily than they do in terms of imports and exports. A quarter of Colombia’s exports go to the US, and the imports from the US comprise 26.4 percent of Colombia’s total imports.

“Colombia has worked for decades to diversify its international relations and expand its commercial partnerships. However, it is unrealistic to anticipate Colombia’s ability to replace its export markets for its goods and services or the US investment’s growth rate in the near future, Munoz said.

According to US Census data, Colombia imported $ 17 billion worth of goods from the US between January and November 2024.

Petroleum products are the US’s most valuable export to Colombia, accounting for about $ 2.5 billion in exported goods in 2023. The next most valuable export was corn, at $1.2bn in 2023, and chemicals, at $1bn in the same year.

Colombia also imports soybean meal and planes, among other things, from the US.

According to Munoz, “taxes could also lead to a devaluation of the Colombian peso, heightened economic risks, and inflationary pressure caused by rising costs of imported goods and raw materials,” Munoz said.

According to the statement, “These measures would undoubtedly have significant economic and social effects in nations like Colombia.”

What are new deportation flights?

Unauthorized immigrants are transported to their country of origin on a deportation flight. However, this is the first time US military aircraft are being used to deport immigrants, according to an unnamed US official, Agence France-Presse reported.

Deportation is not new, and the US began deporting immigrants starting as early as 1892, when 2, 801 immigrants were removed, according to the Department of Homeland Security. However, the number skyrocketed starting in the 1990s.

Democratic US President Joe Biden had promised to end deportations in 2021 but instead he increased them. He most recently deported the most immigrants in nearly a decade, more than 271,000 over the past fiscal year.

Between 2021 and 2024, the US expelled 28, 635 Colombian citizens, according to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) website. The fiscal year of 2024 saw the occurrence of nearly half of these.

Trump, however, made false claims that the Biden administration had allowed “hordes” of undocumented immigrants to enter the country and that other nations were sending violent criminals to the US.

He vowed to carry out the “largest deportation operation in history” with a promise.

Source: Aljazeera