Trump Imposes Sanctions On Colombia Over Refusal To Accept Deportation Flights, US Ally Counters With Tariff
US President Donald Trump imposed tariffs and sanctions on Colombia due to their refusal to accept deportation flights from the US.
US President Donald Trump on Sunday ordered sweeping tariffs and sanctions against Colombia , Washington's closest ally in Latin America for refusing to accept deportation flights.
Colombia, which enjoys a free-trade agreement with the United States, responded in kind with a 25 percent levy on US goods, reported AFP.
Trump, who was peeved after President Gustavo Petro turned away the US planes, launched a tit-for-tat by promising to impose 25 per cent on Colombian goods, which would rise to 50 per cent in a week.
The US President also said he would immediately revoke visas for Colombian government officials and Petro's "supporters" as his authority to impose sanctions was unclear. Trump also said that Colombians will be subjected to greater scrutiny at airports.
"These measures are just the beginning. We will not allow the Colombian Government to violate its legal obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the criminals they forced into the United States!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
In return, Petro, a former leftist guerilla said that he had instructed his minister for external trade "to raise tariffs on imports from the US to 25 per cent."
"You will never dominate us," Petro declared in a long post on X addressed to Trump.
Trump has faced resistance from Petro over the issue as the US President vowed to round up and swiftly deport foreigners unlawfully in the United States. "The United States cannot treat Colombian migrants as criminals. I forbid entry to our territory to US planes carrying Colombian migrants," Petro wrote earlier on X.
In a later post, he said he had "turned back US military planes" while Trump said the two US planes were not allowed to land.
The Colombian government said it was ready to send its presidential plane to bring the migrants from the United States "with dignity". Petro said he was ready to allow civilian US flights carrying deported migrants to land, as long as those aboard were not treated "like criminals."
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