Colombia reversed its stance on Sunday and agreed to accept deported citizens flown on US military aircraft, averting a trade dispute with the US after President Trump threatened tariffs.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Colombia reversed course on Sunday and agreed to accept deported citizens transported on American military aircraft, hours after United States President Donald Trump threatened hefty tariffs to punish the nation's defiance of his mass deportation plans. Colombia n leftist President Gustavo Petro earlier stated he would only take back citizens 'with dignity,' such as on civilian planes, and had turned back two US military aircraft carrying repatriated Colombia ns.
Trump, less than a week back in office, responded with fury and threatened 25-percent tariffs that would rapidly escalate to 50 percent against Latin America's fourth-largest economy. Petro initially sought to retaliate by imposing his own tariffs on US products, but by the end of Sunday, he conceded. Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo announced at a late-night news conference that his country had 'overcome the impasse' and would accept returned citizens.A White House statement declared that Colombia has agreed to 'unrestricted acceptance of all illegal aliens from Colombia returned from the United States, including on US military aircraft, without limitation or delay.' 'Today's events make clear to the world that America is respected again,' it asserted. '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,' it added. Trump vowed to suspend the tariffs' implementation.It had remained unclear even earlier how swiftly Trump could impose tariffs on Colombia, historically one of Washington's closest allies in Latin America, which enjoys a free-trade agreement with the US. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose wife is Colombian American, suspended the issuance of visas at the US Embassy in Colombia's capital Bogota and stated that visas would be revoked from Colombian government officials and their immediate family members. The White House said the visa measures would remain in effect until the first planeload of deportees returns. Trump also pledged to subject Colombians to stricter scrutiny at US airports. Concerns over treatment Trump — who during his campaign declared that immigrants were 'poisoning the blood' of the US — assumed office with pledges to round up and swiftly deport undocumented individuals. While some countries, including Guatemala, have accepted military deportation flights, Trump encountered resistance from Petro, a former guerrilla elected in 2022 as Colombia's first left-wing leader. '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. The Colombian government previously stated it was prepared to dispatch its presidential plane to the United States to transport the migrants 'with dignity.' Petro also indicated that there were 15,600 undocumented Americans residing in his country and urged them to 'regularize their situation,' while ruling out raids to apprehend and deport them. Petro's initial confrontational tactics enraged his many critics in the historic US ally. Former right-wing president Ivan Duque accused Petro of 'an act of tremendous irresponsibility' for refusing what he deemed Colombia's 'moral duty' to take back illegal migrants and warned that US sanctions would inflict an 'enormous' toll.Trump's deportation threats have positioned him on a potential collision course with governments in Latin America, the original homeland of most of the US' estimated 11 million undocumented migrants. Brazil, also led by a left-wing leader, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, voiced outrage over the Trump administration's treatment of dozens of Brazilian migrants deported back to their country on Friday. The migrants, deported under a bilateral agreement predating Trump's return, were handcuffed during the flight, which Brazil denounced as 'flagrant disregard' for their fundamental rights. Honduras' President Xiomara Castro called for an urgent meeting of leaders from the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States to convene in Tegucigalpa on Thursday to address migration following the latest US actions.
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