Trump orders tariffs and sanctions on Colombia in feud over migrants

Good morning and welcome back to the FirstFT Asia. On today’s agenda:

• Trump slaps tariffs on key Latin American ally

• The CIA’s new assessment on Covid-19’s origin

• How a small Chinese AI start-up shocked Silicon Valley

Donald Trump unleashed a barrage of tariffs and sanctions against Colombia, a close US ally in Latin America, after the country declined entry to US military flights deporting migrants.

Trump lashed out after Colombia’s left-wing President Gustavo Petro refused to receive the US aircraft in protest against the way the passengers on board were being treated.

Trump said in a post on Truth Social yesterday that Petro’s move had “jeopardized the National Security and Public Safety of the United States”.

In retaliation, he announced emergency 25 per cent tariffs which would increase to 50 per cent in a week, alongside a travel ban and “immediate visa revocations” for Colombian government officials “and all allies and supporters”.

Petro had earlier written in a post on X that the deported migrants should be treated with “dignity and respect”. The Colombian president’s announcement came a day after the Brazilian government condemned as “degrading” the use of handcuffs on its nationals aboard a deportation flight from the US.

Here’s more on the Latin American reaction to Trump’s immigration crackdown.

We have more news below on the US president’s foreign policy:

• Gaza: Trump has urged Egypt and Jordan to take in most of the population of Gaza, saying it was time to “clean out” the territory in comments that are likely to outrage Palestinians and Arabs across the region.

• Greenland: The US president ridiculed Denmark’s attempts to defend Greenland with additional patrols including two extra dog sleds as he insisted America would take control of the Arctic island.

• Foreign aid freeze: US diplomats have requested an urgent exemption for Ukraine-related programmes from a 90-day halt on foreign aid issued by secretary of state Marco Rubio.

And here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today:

• Economic data: China December industrial profit, Singapore fourth-quarter employment/jobs data

• South Korea: Impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol was indicted yesterday on charges of leading an insurrection after his failed martial law gambit last month. (Reuters)

• Holidays: Financial markets are closed in South Korea for the lunar new year holiday.

Five more top stories

1. The CIA has concluded that Covid-19 probably began as a leak from a laboratory in China. The US intelligence agency said it assessed with “low confidence” that the Covid-19 virus had leaked from the research facility, in a shift of its previous position that there was insufficient information to reach a conclusion. Read more about the new assessment.

2. Bangladesh’s central bank has hired Big Four accountancy firms EY, Deloitte and KPMG to conduct an “asset quality review” of banks it claims lost $17bn to businesspeople close to the regime of former leader Sheikh Hasina, bank governor Ahsan Mansur has said. Mansur has been tasked with beginning the process of recovering the funds he claims were “robbed” from banks during Hasina’s 15-year rule over Bangladesh.

3. Big businesses and national governments are heaping pressure on Brussels to shrink its sustainability agenda amid fierce debate about the impact of Trump’s deregulation drive on the EU. The latest call for reform came from the Europe president of ExxonMobil, Philippe Ducom, who said “very little” of the €30bn it had earmarked for investment in technologies, such as hydrogen and carbon capture, would come to Europe as a result of its “frivolous, excessive and expensive regulation”.

4. Lina Khan has warned of “catastrophic consequences” for America if Trump’s antitrust officials fail to scrutinise private equity groups that are buying up chunks of the US economy. The recently resigned chair of the US Federal Trade Commission told the FT that private equity groups posed a threat to the country’s healthcare system. Read the full interview.

5. An underwater data cable between Sweden and Latvia was damaged yesterday, in at least the third episode of potential sabotage in the Baltic Sea in recent months. Latvian Prime Minister Evika Siliņa said the damage was significant and thus was probably caused by an external force.

News in-depth

DeepSeek, a small Chinese AI lab, stunned the world last week by revealing how to build its cutting-edge large language model on a bootstrapped budget. The release turned its reclusive leader, Liang Wenfeng, into a national hero who has defied US attempts to stop China’s high-tech ambitions. It also sparked a frenzied debate in Silicon Valley about whether better resourced US AI companies, including Meta and Anthropic, can defend their technical edge. Read more about DeepSeek’s shocking move.

We’re also reading . . . 

• From ‘Love Island’ to the outback: A former reality television star is working as an electrician in the outback, as Australians cash in on a shortage of sparkies.

• The anti-Shein manifesto: The rise of the Chinese fast-fashion group relies on shoppers discounting the long term, writes Henry Mance. What if we shopped only for things that will last?

• Trump’s tariffs: Many nations have been responding to the US president’s threats not by retaliating but by courting other trade partners, writes Ruchir Sharma.

Chart of the day

Japanese investors have been selling Eurozone government debt at the fastest pace in more than a decade, with analysts warning that the move by one of the bloc’s cornerstone bondholders could lead to sharp market sell-offs.

Take a break from the news . . . 

The FT’s annual stock picking contest pits the expertise of FT writers, including specialists on the equities market, against readers, who often bring experience of the investment industry to their choices. Last year’s winner placed his bets where few others dared tread.