Donald Trump launched a series of reprisals against Colombia, including the imposition of 25% customs duties on its goods, after the state in Latin America refused to enter US military flights that deport migrants.
Trump attacked after the Left Colombian President Gustavo Petro refused to receive the US plane in protest against the way the passengers were treated on board.
Trump said at a post on the Truth Social website on Sunday that Petro “put the national security and public safety of the United States at risk.”
In response, it announced 25% emergency customs duties that would increase to 50% in a week, in addition to the travel ban and “immediate cancellation of entry visas” on Colombian government officials “and all allies and supporters.
He also announced the strengthening of border inspections for all Colombian citizens and Colombian goods.
“These measures are just the beginning,” Trump wrote at a post on Truth Social. “We will not allow the Colombian government to violate its legal obligations regarding the acceptance and return of criminals who forced them to enter the United States!”
Petro had earlier wrote on a post on the X website that the deported immigrants should be treated “with dignity and respect.”
We will receive our citizens on civilian planes, without being treated as criminals. ”
Petro said on Sunday that Colombia has already refused to receive US military aircraft carrying the two deportees this week. A US official told Reuters that two trips were decreased in total 160 phases.
“Colombia sends nearly a third of its exports to the United States, so this emergency tariff and the threat to raise it more is serious,” said Will Freeman, a Latin American studies colleague at the Council of Foreign Relations.
“It appears that wherever the Trump administration determines that the United States is still enjoying influence, it will fully use it to comply with the collective deportation policy.”
Trump promised to carry out the largest mass deportation of illegal immigrants in the history of the United States, which sparked uncertainty between an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States and resisting potential partners in the region.
The Petro Declaration came one day after the Brazilian government was condemned to use handcuffs on its citizens on the deportation journey from the United States, describing it as “insulting”.
After a non -plane stopped in Manus on Friday due to technical problems, Brazilia said it prevented the trip from continuing to its destination in Belo Horizonte due to the handcuffs, the “bad condition” of the plane and the “wrath” of the pilots. 88 Brazilian citizens because of their “humiliating treatment”
The Brazilian Minister of Justice said that there was “a blatant lack of respect for the basic rights of Brazilian citizens,” and the Brazilian Foreign Ministry pledged to clarifying from US officials.
For Brazil, a country with a long history of slavery, the use of handcuffs to restrict its citizens is especially sensitive.

Although Colombia and the United States were two documents for a long time – as Washington provided about 10 billion dollars of military and external aid to Bogota as part of its plan Colombia, which aims to fight rebels and drug dealers between 1999 and 2016 – but Trump and Petro oppose ideologically .
In 2020, Trump referred to Petro, a former leftist fighter, as the “biggest loser”. Petro spoke strongly against the US -led war on drugs, and cocaine production in Colombia has risen to the sky under his presidency.
In another post on the X website on Sunday, Petro called for “an extraordinary meeting of Latin American presidents to study the problems of immigration and new training for the drug market in America.”
“It is important for Petro and many Latin American leaders to show resistance to this policy on immigration,” said Sergio Joseman, director of risk analysis in Colombia, a Bogota -based advisory organization. “Petro tries to show strength and show ideological difference with Trump.”
Last year, the flow of migrants north decreased through the Darren gap, a treacherous area of the forest separating Colombia and Panama, and the number of illegal transit operations decreased to the United States.
Last year, 302,000 immigrants expressed the Darren gap, a decrease of more than 40 percent from 2023, according to the Panamanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, after a campaign of suppression by the Panamanian authorities on the road controlled by criminal smuggling groups.
The Venezuelans of the Varon formed the oppression and economic collapse, the largest part of the crossings, with nearly 210 thousand immigrants, followed by 17500 Colombians.
But many immigrants used the legal paths opened by the Biden administration to cross to the United States, and the total number of migrants is still close to the last standard levels.
Mexico is negotiating with the United States on immigration and drugs in an attempt to avoid customs duties by 25 percent on its exports to the United States as of next week.
The Mexican Foreign Ministry said today, Friday, that it will always welcome the return of the Mexicans with open arms, after the “NBC News” channel reported that it refused to restore a military trip to the immigrants.
Mexican President Claudia Shinbom stressed that although she agreed to deportations, Mexico will cooperate with the United States and have a “good” relationship with the Trump administration.
Tom Human, the Trump administration’s border official, told ABC news channel on Sunday that if the host countries refuse to receive migrants, “we will put them in a third safe country.”
The US Department of Internal Security and the US Customs and Border Protection Agency did not respond to the request for commenting flights.
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2025-01-26 19:36:00
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