President Donald Trump claimed victory in a showdown with Colombia over the weekend. When the Latin American country did not accept two U.S. military aircrafts full of Colombian migrants, sent by the U.S. government, Trump responded by threatening the country with tariffs and other economic measures.
Trump accused Colombia President Gustavo Petro of being the one to deny the flights, and directed his administration to take a series of retaliatory measures, including a 25% tariff on all Colombian imports to the U.S., which would be raised to 50% in a week.
Trump also threatened visa sanctions and travel bans on Colombian government officials, their families and their allies.
“These measures are just the beginning,” he said in a post on Truth Social. “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!”
At first, Petro defended his decision to order the aircrafts to return to the U.S. by saying the migrants deserved to be treated with dignity, and asked for them to be sent in civilian planes and not be “treated like criminals.”
According to The Associated Press, Colombia accepted 475 flights with U.S. deportees during the Biden administration. Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and El Salvador also accepted such flights.
Petro, in a lengthy response on X translated to English, said Trump’s economic penalties didn’t scare him, and that he would order his own sanctions against the U.S. He also claimed that beginning Sunday, his country “is open to the entire world, with open arms.”
But later on Sunday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt in a statement, said the Colombian government agreed to Trump’s terms, “including the unrestricted acceptance” of Colombian migrants deported from the U.S. In exchange, Trump agreed not to go ahead with his threats.
“Today’s events make clear to the world that America is respected again,” Leavitt said. “President Trump will continue to fiercely protect our nation’s sovereignty, and he expects all other nations of the world to fully cooperate in accepting the deportation of their citizens illegally present in the United States.”
The administration’s action sends a message to countries that may be unwilling to accept migrants with criminal records deported from the U.S. — saying no to deportees will likely end in retaliatory moves by the Trump administration.
House Speaker Mike Johnson in a statement said, “Congress is fully prepared to pass sanctions and other measures against those that do not fully cooperate or follow through on requirements to accept.”
After the showdown, Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo said they had “overcome the impasse with” the U.S.