BOGOTA — President Donald Trump said today he will impose sweeping retaliatory measures on Colombia, including tariffs and sanctions, after the South American country turned away two U.S. military aircraft with migrants being deported as part of the new U.S. administration’s immigration crackdown.
Trump’s punitive action appeared aimed at making an example of Colombia, the second case of a Latin American nation refusing U.S. military deportation flights. It was a demonstration of a more muscular U.S. foreign policy and showed a renewed willingness by Trump to use the might of the United States to force other countries to bend to his will.
Trump wrote on Truth Social that the refusal by Colombian President Gustavo Petro to accept the flights jeopardized U.S. national security.
The retaliatory measures include imposing 25% tariffs on all Colombian goods coming into the United States, which will go up to 50% in one week; a travel ban and visa revocations on Colombian government officials; and emergency treasury, banking and financial sanctions.
Trump said he would also direct enhanced border inspections of Colombian nationals and cargo.
“These measures are just the beginning,” he wrote. “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!”
He posted a picture of himself on Truth Social in a pinstripe suit and a fedora in front of a sign reading FAFO, short for “Fuck Around and Find Out.”
America will “no longer be lied to nor taken advantage of,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a statement, adding that Petro had authorized these flights and provided all needed authorizations but then canceled his authorization when the planes were in the air.
Ciudad Juarez, Mexico December 19, 2024. REUTERS photo by:Jose Luis Gonzalez
Sweeping crackdown
The U.S. president declared illegal immigration a national emergency and imposed a sweeping crackdown since taking office last Monday, directing the U.S. military to help with border security, issuing a broad ban on asylum and taking steps to restrict citizenship for children born on U.S. soil.
Colombia’s Petro condemned the practice on Sunday, suggesting it treated migrants like criminals. In a post on social media platform X, Petro said Colombia would welcome home deported migrants on civilian planes.
“The U.S. cannot treat Colombian migrants as criminals,” Petro wrote.
Petro said even though there were 15,660 Americans without legal immigration status in Colombia, he would never carry out a raid to return handcuffed Americans to the United States.
“We are the opposite of the Nazis,” he wrote, in a jab at Trump.
Mexico also refused a request last week to let a U.S. military aircraft land with migrants.
Trump did not take similar action against Mexico, its largest trading partner, but has said he was thinking about imposing 25% duties on imports from Canada and Mexico on Feb. 1 to force further action against illegal immigrants and fentanyl flowing into the U.S.
The United States is Colombia’s largest trade and investment partner, the State Department says, and Colombia is also the U.S.’ third-largest trade partner in Latin America.
“Petro’s finding out that tweets have consequences. He’s not faced a U.S. counterpart that looks at Colombia through a strategic lens, as a key ally, but as a country to make an example of,” said Sergio Guzman, director of consultancy Colombia Risk Analysis, who added that financial sanctions could be potentially economically crippling.
Alejo Czerwonko, chief investment officer for emerging markets Americas at UBS Global Wealth Management, said Colombia relied on access to the U.S. market for about a third of its exports, or about 4% of its GDP.
“In addition, the Petro-Trump relationship has started off on the wrong foot, which could signal additional challenges ahead,” Czerwonko told Reuters.
Bogotá, Colombia on May 22, 2024. REUTERS photo by: Luisa Gonzalez
Growing discontent
Petro’s comments add to the growing chorus of discontent in Latin America as Trump’s week-old administration starts mobilizing for mass deportations.
Brazil’s foreign ministry late on Saturday condemned “degrading treatment” of Brazilians after migrants were handcuffed on a commercial deportation flight. Upon arrival, some of the passengers also reported mistreatment during the flight, according to local news reports.
The plane, which was carrying 88 Brazilian passengers, 16 U.S. security agents, and eight crew members, had been originally scheduled to arrive in Belo Horizonte in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais.
However, at an unscheduled stop due to technical problems in Manaus, capital of Amazonas, Brazilian officials ordered the removal of the handcuffs, and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva designated a Brazilian Air Force (FAB) flight to complete their journey, the government said in a statement on Saturday.
The commercial charter flight was the second this year from the U.S. carrying undocumented migrants deported back to Brazil and the first since Trump’s inauguration, according to Brazil’s federal police.
Officials from the U.S. State Department, Pentagon, U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
The use of U.S. military aircraft to carry out deportation flights is part of the Pentagon’s response to Trump’s national emergency declaration on immigration on Monday.
In the past, U.S. military aircraft have been used to relocate individuals from one country to another, like during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
This has been the first time in recent memory that U.S. military aircraft were used to fly migrants out of the country, one U.S. official said.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro arrives at the opening ceremony of COP16, a United Nations biodiversity conference in Cali, Colombia on October 20, 2024. (AP Photo)
U.S. military aircraft carried out two similar flights, each with about 80 migrants, to Guatemala on Friday.
By REUTERS
Reporting by Doina Chiacu in Washington and David Ljunggren in Ottawa: Additional reporting by Oliver Griffin in Bogota Editing by Ross Colvin and Marguerita Choy
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles
Phil Stewart has reported from more than 60 countries, including Afghanistan, Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, China and South Sudan. An award-winning Washington-based national security reporter, Phil has appeared on NPR, PBS NewsHour, Fox News and other programs and moderated national security events, including at the Reagan National Defense Forum and the German Marshall Fund. He is a recipient of the Edwin M. Hood Award for Diplomatic Correspondence and the Joe Galloway Award.
Oliver Griffin reports on energy and the environment as well as general news from Bogotá in Colombia. He has a special interest in reporting on Colombia’s rampant oil crime, where hydrocarbon theft fueled by the drug trade leads to widespread pollution. He previously worked at Dow Jones Newswires in Barcelona where he covered oil and mining.
