The “trade war” over in a day

 

Colombia
Trump’s threat worked – here’s why Colombia is backing down on refugees

Joachim Kerpner

Published 11.52

Quick version

• Colombian President Gustavo Petro has agreed to allow the US to deport refugees with military aircraft, following Trump’s threat of tariffs and sanctions.
• Initially, Petro had refused to accept the aircraft because he believed that refugees should be treated with dignity.
• The US is Colombia’s largest trading partner, which may have influenced the decision to accept the terms after the threat of economic sanctions.

Undocumented migrants are deported with a US Air Force aircraft at the end of January. Photo: Sra Devlin Bishop/U.S Air / Zuma Press

Trump's threat backfired.

The Colombian president has now agreed to allow the US to deport refugees on military aircraft.

This after he first stopped the plan and said that refugees must be treated with dignity.

When pictures were released of 88 refugees arriving from the US to Brazil in handcuffs, Colombian President Gustavo Petro reacted.

Yesterday, Sunday, he wrote on X that refugees are not criminals and must be treated with dignity:

- That is why I have refused to receive American military aircraft with Colombian refugees, Petro said.

Later, it turned out that two C-17 transport aircraft with Colombian refugees had been refused landing and had been forced to return to California and Texas respectively.

It did not take long for Donald Trump to counterattack. He announced 25 percent punitive tariffs on all Colombian goods, which would be increased to 50 percent after a week. He also promised financial sanctions against the country, as well as travel bans and revoking visas for Colombian politicians.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro quickly backed down from Trump's demands Photo: Fernando Vergara / AP

At first, the socialist and former guerrilla soldier Gustavo Petro hit back. He promised equally high tariffs on American goods, claimed that Trump was trying to get him removed and wrote:

- I do not shake hands with white oppressors.

But late on Sunday he relented and announced that Colombia would continue to allow American military aircraft to transport Colombian refugees to the United States, but that this would be done under "guaranteed dignified conditions".

An important reason is likely that the United States is Colombia's largest trading partner, and that the country had lost a lot of money on sharply increased American tariffs.

The number of undocumented Colombian refugees in the United States is around 190,000. That's far from number one on the list, Mexico. Today, there are about four million undocumented Mexicans living in the United States.

Source: New York Times.

Migrants from Guatemala who were flown back from the United States. Photo: Instituto Guatemalteco De Migracion