Photo caption: Trump
Colombia has walked back from the brink of a damaging trade war with the United States, reaching an agreement on accepting deported migrants being returned on military planes, after a flurry of threats from President Donald Trump that included steep tariffs.
Colombia said Sunday evening it had agreed to “all of President Trump’s terms,” including the “unrestricted acceptance” of immigrants who entered the US illegally, after two US military planes carrying deportees were blocked from entering the country.
“We will continue to receive Colombians and Colombian women who return as deportees, guaranteeing them decent conditions as citizens subject to rights,” Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo said in a televised statement. He added that US deportation flights had resumed, and the Colombian presidential plane was being prepared to assist in repatriating citizens.
The Drug Enforcement Administration of Chicago shared photos of their team working with other federal law enforcement partners on immigration enforcement.
The White House also backed off its threat to impose tariffs unless Colombia “fails to honor this agreement,” adding other penalties, including visa sanctions and customs inspections of Colombian nationals and cargo ships, will stay in place until the first plane of Colombian deportees is successfully returned.
“Today’s events make clear to the world that America is respected again. 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 White House said in a statement.
The announcement brings an end to a tumultuous weekend that threatened to raise coffee prices for American consumers and impact hundreds of thousands of Colombian workers. It’s also the first time Trump took major action against another country over his immigration policy since he took office last week.
The feud began early Sunday over the US miliary flights carrying deportees to Colombia. Documents reviewed by CNN show Colombia had previously approved the flights, though Colombian President Gustavo Petro disputed he had authorized them – and US officials claim the authorization was revoked once the planes were en route.
Petro blocked the planes from landing, accusing the US of treating Colombian migrants like criminals – prompting Trump to order steep tariffs on all Colombian imports, a travel ban for Colombian citizens, the revoking of visas for Colombian officials in the US, and suspending visa processing for both immigrant and non-immigrant visas.
The visa restrictions are particularly extraordinary as they are usually reserved for adversaries or individuals who have committed human rights abuses – while Colombia is a major non-NATO ally of the US, and for decades has been its closest partner in South America.
US Army soldiers patrol the US-Mexico border at Eagle Pass, Texas, on January 24, 2025. US President Donald Trump ordered 1,500 more military personnel to the border with Mexico as part of a flurry of steps to tackle immigration, his spokeswoman said on January 22. Border security is a key priority for the president, who declared a national emergency at the US frontier with Mexico on his first day in office, and the additional personnel will bring the total number of active-duty troops deployed there to around 4,000.
In response, Petro threatened retaliatory tariffs on the US and attacked Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on social media, writing: “You will never see me burning a US flag or carrying out a raid to return handcuffed illegal immigrants to the US.”
By Sunday evening, the White House announced the two countries had reached their agreement.
The face-off also demonstrates the potential challenges facing other countries as they brace for Trump’s immigration crackdown – with the new president already threatening tariffs on Canada and Mexico over border issues. And the perceived early victory over Colombia seems to have emboldened some in the White House.
“You can’t go out there and publicly defy us in that way,” a Trump administration official told CNN. “We’re going to make sure the world knows they can’t get away with being nonserious and deceptive.”
Consequences of a trade war
Though a trade war may have been averted for now, the tit-for-tat threats highlighted the expensive fallout one could cause.
Colombia is not a major trading partner with the US, but its major exports include minerals, metals and coffee. Coffee prices have already shot higher over the past year, and tariffs could have made it even more expensive for American consumers.
President Trump spoke to business leaders via satellite at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
And even if Trump walks back his threats against Colombia, he has promised across-the-board tariffs on other countries as soon as this week if they don’t move manufacturing to the US. Those tariffs could dramatically boost prices for Americans, because importers pay the tariffs and often pass the increased costs on to consumers.
Meanwhile, economic and foreign policy analysts also urged Colombia to avoid a diplomatic feud with the US. The Colombian Council on International Relations (CORI), a think tank of former foreign ministers and analysts, warned that commercial retaliation would only harm Colombia, and warned the country’s government to preserve its relationship with Washington.
The head of the Colombo-American Chamber of Commerce, Maria Claudia Lacouture, echoed those sentiments in a post on X, warning that US tariffs on Colombian products would have an immediate and devastating impact.
“In coffee alone, more than 500,000 families depend on this sector. In flower farming, thousands of single mothers would lose their livelihood. And we can continue adding sectors that will be affected,” she said.
====== CNN ======
