Bogota [Colombia], January 28: A looming trade war between the US and Colombia appears to have been averted after the Colombian government agreed to allow US military flights carrying deported migrants to land in the Andean country.
The spat erupted on Sunday when President Gustavo Petro barred two military planes carrying Colombians deported from the US from landing. The Trump administration responded by threatening to slap punitive tariffs on Colombian exports to the US.
President Petro at first said Colombia would retaliate by imposing tariffs on US goods, but the White House later announced that Colombia had agreed to accept migrants - including those arriving on US military aircraft - "without limitation or delay".
The White House hailed the agreement with Colombia as a victory for Trump's hard-line approach, after the country's two leaders had exchanged threats on social media on Sunday.
"Today's events make clear to the world that America is respected again," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote in a statement.
She added that the tariffs and sanctions which the Trump administration had threatened to impose on Colombia, should it not comply, would be "held in reserve, and not signed, unless Colombia fails to honour this agreement". She also said that President Donald Trump "expects all other nations of the world to fully co-operate in accepting deportation of their citizens illegally present in the United States".
The row between Colombia's left-wing president and Trump escalated rapidly on Sunday. Petro, a keen user of social media, posted on X that he had "barred US planes carrying Colombian migrants from entering our territory" because "the US can't treat Colombian migrants like criminals".
He demanded that the US put procedures in place for migrants to be "treated with dignity". He also said he was ready to send the presidential plane to the US to transport the migrants. (Agencies)
Source: Qatar Tribune
