Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Sunday ordered an increase of import tariffs on goods from the United States in retaliation to President Trump’s tariffs and sanctions.
Petro, in a post on the social platform X, said he ordered the “foreign trade minister to raise import tariffs from the U.S. by 25%.”
“American products whose price will rise within the national economy must be replaced by national production, and the government will help in this regard,” the post continued.
Earlier Sunday, President Trump slapped Colombia with 25 percent tariffs on all goods coming into the U.S., and he issued a travel ban and immediate visa revocations on “Government Officials, and all Allies and Supporters,” among other measures, after the South American country rejected two planes carrying migrants.
“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. This order was given by Colombia’s Socialist President Gustavo Petro, who is already very unpopular amongst his people,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
Trump added that the Colombian president’s “denial of these flights has jeopardized the National Security and Public Safety of the United States” and that he had “directed my Administration to immediately take the following urgent and decisive retaliatory measures.”
On Sunday morning, Petro said he will deny entry to the United States’s deportation flights as Trump’s immigration plans begin.
“The US cannot treat Colombian migrants as criminals,” Petro posted Sunday on X. “I deny the entry of American planes carrying Colombian migrants into our territory.”
The South American country will send its presidential plane to Honduras to pick up Colombians after the country refused to accept migrant deportation flights from the United States, Petro said 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.
Newly confirmed secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement that Petro had authorized the two flights but canceled his authorization when the planes were in the air.
“As demonstrated by today’s actions, we are unwavering in our commitment to end illegal immigration and bolster America’s border security,” Rubio said.
Petro responded to Rubio in a post saying that he would never allow Colombians to be brought in handcuffs on flights.
“Marco, if officials from the Foreign Ministry allowed this, it would never be under my direction. … I am a man of freedom, not of chains,” he said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), in a Sunday afternoon post on X, said that Colombia and all nations “should be on notice.”
“Congress is fully prepared to pass sanctions and other measures against those that do not fully cooperate or follow through on requirements to accept their citizens who are illegally in the United States,” Johnson said.
