US-Colombia Tariff War Eases as Colombian President Accepts Plane with ‘Illegal Aliens’ Under Trump Pressure

Colombian President Accepts Plane with ‘Illegal Aliens’: The White House claimed victory in a showdown with Colombia over accepting flights of deported migrants from the U.S. on Sunday, hours after President Donald Trump threatened steep tariffs on imports and other sanctions on the longtime U.S. partner.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has arranged for the presidential plane to facilitate the “dignified return of Colombian nationals who were to arrive in the country today in the morning hours, coming in from deportation flights,” read a statement released on Sunday.

“This measure is in response to the government’s commitment to guarantee dignified conditions. In no way have Colombians, as patriots and subjects of rights, been or will be banished from Colombian territory,” the statement continued.

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The visa sanctions issued by the State Department and enhanced inspections from Customs and Border Protection, however, will remain in effect “until the first planeload of Colombian deportees is successfully returned.”

“Today’s events make clear to the world that America is respected again,” the press secretary added.

The clash comes days after Mexico refused a similar request to let a US military aircraft laden with migrants land on its soil.

“I was just informed that two repatriation flights from the United States, with a large number of Illegal Criminals, were not allowed to land in Colombia,” Trump wrote Sunday.

“This order was given by Colombia’s Socialist President Gustavo Petro, who is already very unpopular amongst his people,” he said, adding that Petro’s decision has “jeopardized the National Security and Public Safety of the United States.”

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In response, Trump said he would enact the “emergency 25% tariffs on all goods coming into the United States” — and claimed he’d raise it to 50% in a week.

“These measures are just the beginning,” Trump said. “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!”

The angry post came after Petro blocked the jets’ arrival and said he wouldn’t accept any deportation flights until the Trump administration used civilian planes and created better protocols for how it treats deportees.

“A migrant is not a criminal and must be treated with the dignity that a human being deserves,” Petro said. “That is why I returned the U.S. military planes that were carrying Colombian migrants.”

And though Colombian migrants can’t stay in a country that doesn’t want them, they must be returned “with dignity and respect for them and for our country,” he said.

“We will receive our fellow citizens on civilian planes, without treating them like criminals.”

Petro, a former leftist guerrilla, signaled later Sunday that he was willing to cut a deal. He offered the country’s presidential aircraft — a converted Boeing 737-700 to move deported migrants. This, he said, would guarantee them “dignified conditions.”

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