By Phil Stewart and Oliver Griffin, Reuters
File photo. Colombian President Gustavo Petro condemned the practice of returning migrants on military flights, suggesting it treated migrants like criminals. Photo: AFP / Mauro Pimentel
- Mexico also refused to authorize a US military deportation aircraft
- Trump's immigration crackdown hiking tensions in Latin America
- Brazil condemns US handcuffing of migrants on deportation flight
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday he will impose sweeping retaliatory measures on Colombia, including tariffs and sanctions, after the South American country turned away two US military aircraft with migrants being deported as part of the new administration's immigration crackdown.
Colombia, the third largest US trading partner in Latin America, swiftly responded, threatening a 50 percent tariff on US goods. The country's leftist president, Gustavo Petro, later posted on X that he directed his trade minister to increase tariffs on US imports by 25 percent.
Colombia is the second Latin American nation to refuse US military deportation flights. Trump's punitive action demonstrated his more muscular US foreign policy and his renewed willingness to force countries to bend to his will.
Trump wrote on Truth Social that the refusal by Colombian President Gustavo Petro to accept the flights jeopardised US national security.
Donald Trump. Photo: AFP / Mandel Ngan
The retaliatory measures include imposing 25 percent tariffs on all Colombian goods coming into the US, which will go up to 50 percent in one week; a travel ban and visa revocations on Colombian government officials; and emergency treasury, banking and financial sanctions.
Trump said he would also direct enhanced border inspections of Colombian nationals and cargo.
"These measures are just the beginning," he wrote. "We will not allow the Colombian government to violate its legal obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the Criminals they forced into the United States!"
He later posted a picture of himself on Truth Social in a pinstripe suit and a fedora in front of a sign reading FAFO, a common slang acronym for "F--- Around and Find Out".
America will "no longer be lied to nor taken advantage of", US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a statement, adding that Petro had authorised these flights and provided all needed authorisations but then cancelled his authorisation when the planes were in the air.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the military aircraft had departed California and were en route to Colombia when Bogota yanked the permissions to land.
Sweeping crackdown
The US president declared illegal immigration a national emergency and imposed a sweeping crackdown since taking office last Monday. He directed the US military to help with border security, issued a broad ban on asylum and took steps to restrict citizenship for children born on US soil.
Colombia's Petro condemned the practice on Sunday, suggesting it treated migrants like criminals. In a post on social media platform X, Petro said Colombia would welcome home deported migrants on civilian planes.
"The US cannot treat Colombian migrants as criminals," Petro wrote.
Petro said even though there were 15,660 Americans without legal immigration status in Colombia, he would never carry out a raid to return handcuffed Americans to the US
"We are the opposite of the Nazis," he wrote.
Mexico also refused a request last week to let a US military aircraft land with migrants.
Trump did not take similar action against Mexico, the largest US trading partner, but has said he was thinking about imposing 25 percent duties on imports from Canada and Mexico on 1 February to force further action against illegal immigrants and fentanyl flowing into the US.
The US is Colombia's largest trading partner, largely due to a 2006 free trade agreement, with US$33.8 billion (NZ$59b) worth of two-way trade in 2023 and a rare US$1.6 (NZ$2.8b) US trade surplus, according to US Census Bureau data.
The biggest US imports from Colombia that year were crude oil, gold, coffee, and cut roses.
"Petro's finding out that tweets have consequences. He's not [facing] a US counterpart that looks at Colombia through a strategic lens, as a key ally, but as a country to make an example of," said Sergio Guzman, director of consultancy Colombia Risk Analysis, who added that financial sanctions could be potentially economically crippling.
Alejo Czerwonko, chief investment officer for emerging markets Americas at UBS Global Wealth Management, said Colombia relied on access to the US market for about a third of its exports, or about 4 percent of its GDP.
"In addition, the Petro-Trump relationship has started off on the wrong foot, which could signal additional challenges ahead," Czerwonko told Reuters.
Growing discontent
Petro's comments add to the growing chorus of discontent in Latin America as Trump's week-old administration starts mobilising for mass deportations.
Brazil's foreign ministry on Saturday condemned "degrading treatment" of Brazilians after migrants were handcuffed on a commercial deportation flight. Upon arrival, some passengers also reported mistreatment during the flight, according to local news reports.
The plane, which was carrying 88 Brazilian passengers, 16 US security agents, and eight crew members, had been originally scheduled to arrive in Belo Horizonte in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais.
However, at an unscheduled stop due to technical problems in Manaus, capital of Amazonas, Brazilian officials ordered the removal of the handcuffs, and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva designated a Brazilian Air Force (FAB) flight to complete their journey, the government said in a statement on Saturday.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Photo: AFP
The commercial charter flight was the second this year from the US carrying undocumented migrants deported back to Brazil and the first since Trump's inauguration, according to Brazil's federal police.
Officials from the US State Department, Pentagon, US Department of Homeland Security and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
The use of US military aircraft to carry out deportation flights is part of the Pentagon's response to Trump's national emergency declaration on immigration on Monday (US time).
In the past, US military aircraft have been used to relocate individuals from one country to another, like during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
This has been the first time in recent memory that US military aircraft were used to fly migrants out of the country, one US official said.
US military aircraft carried out two similar flights, each with about 80 migrants, to Guatemala on Friday.
- Reuters
