President Donald Trump drew up plans on Sunday for new tariffs on imports from Colombia after it blocked two military deportation flights from the U.S., but stopped short of implementing them after talks with Colombian officials.
Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro explained his decision to block the flights in a post to X, arguing that migrants are not criminals and that the U.S. must “establish a protocol for the dignified treatment of migrants before we receive them,” according to an unofficial translation.
Trump responded in a Truth Social post shortly after, in which he accused the Colombian leader of having “jeopardized” U.S. national security. Accordingly, the U.S. president said he would immediately impose “emergency” 25% tariffs on all Colombian goods, rising to 50% in a week.
“These measures are just the beginning,” the president warned. Alongside the tariff threats, the president announced visa revocations and travel bans on Colombian officials.
Petro followed up with an official statement suggesting that he would make the presidential plane available for the “dignified” return of the Colombian migrants. He also took to X again to warn his U.S. counterpart that new tariffs would trigger retaliation.
“I am informed that you put a 50% tariff on the fruits of our labor to enter the USA, I do the same. Let our people plant corn that was discovered in Colombia and feed the world,” Petro said in a post to X, according to an unofficial translation.
In a statement late Sunday night, the White House said Colombian officials had agreed to the “unrestricted acceptance” of repatriated migrants, “including on U.S. military aircraft.” The tariff plans, the statement said, would be “held in reserve, and not signed, unless Colombia fails to honor this agreement.”
The eleventh-hour agreement averts sweeping tariffs on coffee, flowers and petroleum products – the country’s major exports to the U.S.. Around 27% of unroasted U.S. coffee imports come from Colombia, according to Agriculture Department data.
With Valentine’s Day around the corner, fresh tariffs on Colombian products could also have driven flower prices up. The U.S. imports around 80% of its cut flowers, and Colombia is a major source. From 2018-2022, Colombia provided around 37% of the U.S. cut flower and nursery stock, according to USDA data.
Colombia also provides the U.S. with around 4% of its crude oil imports. Colombia, Canada and Mexico – two other targets of Trump’s sweeping tariff threats – account for a total 74% of U.S. crude oil imports, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
A tit-for-tat trade conflict with Colombia would also have consequences for U.S. agriculture exporters. The country is the largest South American market for U.S. ag products, USDA says. It imports more than $1 billion of U.S. corn annually -- a larger volume than Canada -- making it the fourth-largest export market for U.S. corn producers.
The U.S. and Colombia have had a free trade agreement in place since 2012, guaranteeing duty-free access to each other’s markets and reducing non-tariff barriers. Under the agreement, however, the U.S. retains the right to take actions to protect its national security interests.
The White House statement said that the president had planned to use emergency presidential powers to impose the tariffs and other sanctions. The International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which awards the president these emergency powers, has never been used to impose tariffs and analysts have previously raised questions about whether the president could use the authority to hike or adopt new tariffs. The Constitution awards Congress the power to regulate tariffs. It’s not clear that a court would allow the president to wield IEEPA in this way, or to impose broader tariffs in the future, former National Security Council and National Economic Council official Peter Harrell said in a post to X on Sunday.
“While my instinct is that a judge would allow IEEPA to be used for a tariff on Colombia,” Harrell said, “I wonder if a court would either (a) temporarily enjoin the tariff to allow some time for full arguments; and/or (b) try to issue an opinion that allows the tariffs but has some limiting element on the potential scope of IEEPA tariffs down the road.”
However, some lawmakers were quick to head off any legal barriers or questions of presidential authority that would get in the way of sanctioning Colombia. Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, said that he would introduce legislation with Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and House Florida Republicans Anna Paulina Luna and Byron Donalds to “impose new sanctions” on Colombia.
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., also downplayed the impact of any retaliation on U.S. ag producers in comments to Agri-Pulse on Sunday night.
“I think the impact of the threat of tariffs is short-term,” Thompson said. Thompson added that the episode showed “President Trump using trade as a tool, not a policy.”
“I was pleased to see what President Trump did.”
For more news, go to Agri-Pulse.com.
