"I ordered the abroad Trade Minister to rise customs duties on imports from the US by 25%. The Ministry should aid channel our exports worldwide but for the US," wrote the Colombian President.
US authorities Meanwhile, he stopped granting visas at the American embassy in Bogota in retaliation for Petro's decision not to take deportation flights," announced State Department spokesman, quoted by Reuter's agency.
Colombia has until late been considered 1 of the major allies of the United States in Latin America. Both countries have worked closely, among another things, to fight drug producers and smugglers. However, the relation cooled down, Since 2022 the power in Colombia was taken over by Petro, the first left-wing president in the past of the country.
The Colombian president is equal to Trump.
Petro stated on the X platform on Sunday that he would not accept U.S. military aircraft deporting Colombian citizens until the Trump administration has developed a "protocol of decent treatment for migrants".
The president of Colombia has released a video showing supposedly migrants deported to Brazil, leaving the plane with their hands and legs tied or handed. "The US cannot treat Colombian migrants as criminals," he noted.
Petro later announced that his presidential aircraft was at its disposal to guarantee a "decent return" to the country of citizens to be deported on Sunday military aircraft.
Trump announced on Sunday that Due to the opposition of the authorities in Bogotá to deportation flights, he recommended the imposition of 25-percent. duties on all goods imported from Colombia and a wide scope of financial sanctions against the country, and Colombian officials and their families. The work is expected to emergence to 50 percent during the week.
“These measures are only the beginning. We will not let the Colombian government to violate its legal obligations to receive and send back the criminals he forced to enter the United States!” Trump threatened.
The AP agency underlines that Colombia is 1 of the fewer US trading partners that buy more from them than they sell.
