The US White House has explained that it has reversed the tariffs it imposed on Colombia after the country agreed to accept — without restrictions — deported migrants from the US.
This comes after President Donald Trump ordered 25 per cent
tariffs on all Colombian goods after its President barred two US military
deportation flights from landing in the country on Sunday.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro had initially responded by
saying his country would accept repatriated citizens on “civilian planes,
without treating them like criminals”.
A White House statement revealed that Colombia has now agreed to accept migrants arriving on US military aircraft “without limitation or delay.” Colombia said a dialogue would be maintained to “guarantee the dignity of our citizens.”
The White House described the agreement with Colombia as a
victory for Trump’s hard-line approach after the country’s two leaders traded
threats on social media on Sunday.
Colombia’s foreign ministry said it had “overcome the
impasse” with the US just hours after Petro published a lengthy post on X
condemning what he called Trump’s “blockade.”
Petro had earlier denied entry to US military deportation
flights, saying that migrants should be returned “with dignity and respect.”
In response, Trump announced “urgent and decisive
retaliatory measures” in a post on his social media site, Truth Social,
including tariffs and visa sanctions.
Petro responded on X with a post announcing his own tariffs
and celebrating Colombia’s heritage.
“Your blockade does not scare me because Colombia, besides
being the country of beauty, is the heart of the world,” he said.
Within hours, the two sides appeared to have resolved the
row, and the White House said Colombia had agreed to “all of President Trump’s
demands.”
Trump’s proposed tariffs had been “fully drafted” and would
still be implemented if Colombia does not honour this agreement, according to
the White House.
Earlier, Trump had also announced visa sanctions and
enhanced inspections on Colombians at the border. These will remain in place
“until the first planeload of Colombian deportees is successfully returned,”
the White House said.
Colombia’s foreign minister, Luis Gilberto Murillo, said the
country would “continue to receive Colombians who return as deportees,
guaranteeing them decent conditions, as citizens subject to rights.”.
Petro’s presidential plane has been prepared to facilitate
the return of the Colombians who would have arrived in the country earlier on
the blocked military flights, he added.
Murillo will travel to Washington for high-level meetings in
the coming hours, according to a foreign ministry statement.
The clash between the two nations came after Trump’s administration
vowed to carry out “mass deportations.” The president signed multiple executive
orders related to immigration on his first day in office.
Some of Trump’s executive orders were signed with the aim of
expanding Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) ability to arrest and
detain unlawful migrants on US soil.
Federal agents conducted “targeted” immigration arrests in
Chicago on Sunday, an ICE spokesperson said in a statement.
The agents were accompanied by the newly appointed “border
czar,” Tom Homan, US officials told CBS News.
Homan said Congress should increase funding for the border
effort, which included a need for 100,000 beds in migrant detention centres.
On Thursday, the US Congress passed the Laken Riley Act,
which will greatly expand immigration authorities’ power to detain migrants.
Meanwhile, in an opposing viewpoint, Democratic
congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said the bill represents a “fundamental
erosion of civil rights.”
There are reports that Trump’s hard stance on the
deportation of illegal migrants has stoked fear in the US and globally.
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