Colombian President Gustavo Petro prevented two US military aircraft carrying deported Colombians from landing in his country, resulting in a feud with Donald Trump, who imposed emergency tariffs and other retaliatory measures.
When the US president learned that two repatriation flights from the US to Colombia had been denied landing clearance, he reacted angrily in a post on his Truth Social network.
Trump wrote that the flights carried “a large number of Illegal Criminals” and that the landing-denial order was issued by “Colombia’s Socialist President Gustavo Petro,” who he described as “already very unpopular among his people.”
He accused Petro of endangering US national security and public safety, and directed his administration to “take the following urgent and decisive retaliatory measures”.
The measures include doubling tariffs on Colombian exports to the US to 50%, banning and revoking visas for Colombian government officials “and all Allies and Supporters,” and increasing inspections of all Colombian nationals and cargo entering the US on “national security grounds.”
“These measures are just the beginning,” Trump added. “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!”
In response, Petro increased import tariffs on US goods in retaliation for Donald Trump’s announcement of tariffs on Colombia and sanctions on Colombian government officials.
Petro, in a Twitter/X post, said he ordered the “foreign trade minister to raise import tariffs from the United States by 25%.”
Le ordenó al ministro de comercio exterior elevar los aranceles de importaciones desde los EEUU en un 25%.
El ministerio debe ayudar a dirigir nuestra exportaciones a todo el mundo diferente a los EEUU. Nuestras exportaciones deben ampliarse. Invito a todas las comunidades… https://t.co/i8HSpRBxth
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) January 26, 2025
“American products whose price will rise within the national economy must be replaced by national production, and the government will help in this regard,” according to the post. The United States is Colombia’s largest trading partner, with exports including crude petroleum, coffee, and cut flowers.
The exchange between the two leaders reflected rising tensions between the central and southern US governments and Washington over US deportation flights. Mexico reportedly refused to receive a similar flight on Saturday, according to US officials cited by Reuters and NBC News.
In an early Sunday Twitter/X post, Colombia’s leftist leader wrote: “A migrant is not a criminal and must be treated with the dignity that every human being deserves.”
“That is why I ordered the return of US military planes carrying Colombian migrants,” Petro wrote, sharing a video of Brazilian deportees shackled at the wrists and ankles after being flown out of the United States on Friday.
He went on to say, “I cannot force migrants to remain in a country that does not want them.” However, if that country does return them, it must do so with dignity and respect for both them and our nation. We will welcome our compatriots on civilian planes, without treating them as criminals. “Colombia deserves respect,” the president wrote.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a statement accusing Colombia’s leader of revoking the flights’ authorizations. “Colombian President Petro had authorized flights and provided all needed authorizations and then canceled his authorization when the planes were in the air,” according to the release.
“President Trump has made it clear that under his administration, America will no longer be lied to nor taken advantage of.”
Petro had previously stated in a post that “the US must establish a protocol for the dignified treatment of migrants before we accept their return.”
Petro’s office previously stated that the presidential plane would be made available to transport migrants who were scheduled to arrive on military planes.
Petro’s remarks add to the growing chorus of discontent in Latin America as the US president’s week-old administration begins to prepare for mass deportations.
A flight carrying 88 deported Brazilians arrived in Brazil, but not before sparking the first diplomatic clash between Trump’s new administration and Brazil’s leftist president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The flight, which departed Alexandria, Louisiana, on Friday, was bound for Belo Horizonte in south-eastern Brazil. However, due to technical issues, it made unscheduled stops in Panama and Manaus, northern Brazil.
US officials reportedly attempted to continue the journey, but the Brazilian government intervened, sending an air force plane to complete the final leg without handcuffs or leg irons. The deportees arrived in Belo Horizonte around 9 p.m. on Saturday.
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In a statement issued on Sunday, Brazil’s ministry of foreign affairs announced it would file a formal “request for clarification” with the US government over the “degrading treatment” of the deportees, including six children who were reportedly not restrained.
Such deportation flights have been taking place since the first Trump administration signed an agreement with Brazil in 2017. Last year alone, 17 flights carried deportees from Alexandria to Belo Horizonte.
However, the Brazilian government claims that the use of handcuffs and leg irons “violates the terms of the agreement with the US, which requires the dignified, respectful, and humane treatment of deportees”.
Deportees told Brazilian media upon arrival that they had been assaulted and threatened by US agents during the flight.
An internal Department of Homeland Security memo obtained by the New York Times revealed that the Trump administration is implementing a new set of strict measures to expedite deportations. The directive grants Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers broad authority to expedite removals.
Officials from the US State Department, Pentagon, Department of Homeland Security, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The use of US military aircraft to carry out deportation flights is part of the Pentagon’s response to President Trump’s national emergency declaration on immigration issued on Monday.
Previously, US military aircraft have been used to transport individuals from one country to another, such as during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
This is the first time in recent memory that US military aircraft have been used to transport migrants out of the country, according to one US official.
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