White House says Colombia agrees to take deported migrants after Trump tariff threat : NPR

BOGOTA, Colombia — The White Home 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 different sanctions on the longtime U.S. accomplice.

Lengthy shut companions in anti-narcotics efforts, the U.S. and Colombia clashed Sunday over the deportation of migrants and imposed tariffs on one another’s items in a present of what different nations may face in the event that they intervene within the Trump administration’s crackdown on unlawful immigration. The White Home held up the episode as a warning to different nations who may search to impede his plans.

Earlier, the U.S. president had ordered visa restrictions, 25% tariffs on all Colombian incoming items, which might be raised to 50% in a single week, and different retaliatory measures sparked by President Gustavo Petro’s determination to reject two Colombia-bound U.S. navy plane carrying migrants after Petro accused Trump of not treating immigrants with dignity throughout deportation. Petro additionally introduced a retaliatory 25% improve in Colombian tariffs on U.S. items.

Trump mentioned the measures have been mandatory as a result of Petro’s determination “jeopardized” nationwide safety within the U.S. by blocking the deportation flights.

“These measures are only the start,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Reality Social. “We is not going to enable the Colombian Authorities to violate its authorized obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the Criminals they compelled into america.”

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt mentioned in a late Sunday assertion that the “Authorities of Colombia has agreed to all of President Trump’s phrases, together with the unrestricted acceptance of all unlawful aliens from Colombia returned from america, together with on U.S. navy plane, with out limitation or delay.”

Leavitt mentioned the tariff orders can be “held in reserve, and never signed.” However Leavitt mentioned Trump would preserve visa restrictions on Colombian officers and enhanced customs inspections of products from the nation, “till the primary planeload of Colombian deportees is efficiently returned.”

The Colombian authorities late Sunday mentioned it thought-about as “overcome” the episode with the Trump administration and Petro reposted the assertion from the White Home on X.

“We’ve got overcome the deadlock with america authorities,” mentioned Colombian International Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo. “We are going to proceed to obtain Colombians who return as deportees, guaranteeing them first rate circumstances as residents topic to rights.”

Murillo added that the South American nation’s presidential plane is offered to facilitate the return of migrants who have been to reach hours earlier on the U.S. navy airplanes.

Earlier Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio introduced he was authorizing the visa restrictions on Colombian authorities officers and their households “who have been liable for the interference of U.S. repatriation flight operations.” They have been being imposed on high of the State Division’s transfer to droop the processing of visas on the U.S. Embassy in Colombia’s capital, Bogota.

Petro had mentioned earlier that his authorities wouldn’t settle for flights carrying migrants deported from the U.S. till the Trump administration creates a protocol that treats them with “dignity.” Petro made the announcement in two X posts, certainly one of which included a information video of migrants reportedly deported to Brazil strolling on a tarmac with restraints on their arms and toes.

“A migrant is just not a prison and have to be handled with the dignity {that a} human being deserves,” Petro mentioned. “That’s the reason I returned the U.S. navy planes that have been carrying Colombian migrants… In civilian planes, with out being handled like criminals, we are going to obtain our fellow residents.”

After Trump’s earlier tariff risk, Petro mentioned in a put up on X that he had ordered the “overseas commerce minister to lift import tariffs from the U.S. by 25%.”

Colombia has historically been the U.S.’s high ally in Latin America. However their relationship has strained since Petro, a former guerrilla, grew to become Colombia’s first leftist president in 2022 and sought distance from the U.S.

Colombia accepted 475 deportation flights from the U.S. from 2020 to 2024, fifth behind Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and El Salvador, in accordance with Witness on the Border, an advocacy group that tracks flight information. It accepted 124 deportation flights in 2024.

Colombia can be among the many nations that final yr started accepting U.S.-funded deportation flights from Panama.

The U.S. authorities did not instantly reply to a request for remark from The Related Press concerning plane and protocols utilized in deportations to Colombia.

“It is a clear message we’re sending that nations have an obligation to simply accept repatriation flights,” a senior administration official instructed AP. The official spoke on the situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t approved to debate situation publicly.

Rubio in an announcement mentioned Petro “canceled his authorization” for the flights when the plane have been within the air.

Colombians emerged in recent times as a significant presence on the U.S. border with Mexico, aided partially by a visa regime that permits them to simply fly to Mexico and keep away from trekking although the treacherous Darien Hole. They ranked fourth with 127,604 arrests for unlawful crossings throughout a 12-month interval by means of September, behind Mexicans, Guatemalans and Venezuelans.

Mexico hasn’t imposed visa restrictions on Colombians, as they’ve on Venezuelans, Ecuadoreans and Peruvians.

Petro’s authorities in an announcement later introduced that the South American nation’s presidential plane had been made out there to facilitate the return of migrants who have been to reach hours earlier on the U.S. navy airplanes and assure them “dignified circumstances.”

As a part of a flurry of actions to make good on Trump’s marketing campaign guarantees to crack down on unlawful immigration, his authorities is utilizing active-duty navy to assist safe the border and perform deportations.

Two U.S. Air Power C-17 cargo planes carrying migrants faraway from the U.S. touched down early Friday in Guatemala. That very same day, Honduras acquired two deportation flights carrying a complete of 193 folks.

Colombia is the U.S.’s fourth-largest abroad provider of crude oil, delivery about 209,000 barrels of oil per day final yr, though booming home manufacturing has lowered the U.S.’ dependence on overseas oil. The South American nation can be the U.S.’s largest provider of contemporary reduce flowers.