US President Donald Trump said he would impose 25% tariffs and sanctions on Colombia after his president barred two US military planes carrying deported migrants from landing in the country.
Trump said emergency tariffs “on all goods” coming into the US from Colombia would be put in place “immediately” and within a week the 25% tariffs would be collected to 50%.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro said earlier on Sunday that he had denied entry to Colombian soil of US military planes carrying deported migrants.
Petro said he would “receive our fellow citizens on civilian planes without treating them like criminals” and said migrants must be returned “with dignity and respect”.
US officials told the BBC’s US partner, CBS News, that two military planes from San Diego were due to land in Colombia with migrant deportees on Sunday, but those plans were scrapped due to complications.
In response, Trump announced “immediate and decisive retaliation” in a post on TrustiSocial. He said the US would impose a travel ban and “immediate visa revocation” on Colombian government officials, as well as its allies and supporters.
Trump also said there would be visa sanctions for supporters of the Colombian government, and enhanced Customs and Border Protection inspections of “all Colombian nationals and cargo based on national security.”
“These measures are just the beginning,” Trump added, saying his administration would not allow the Colombian government “to violate its legal obligations to accept and return criminals they have forced into the United States.”
The US imports about 20% of its coffee – worth nearly $2 billion – from Colombia, as well as other goods such as bananas, crude oil, avocados and flowers.
Tariffs will make it more expensive, which – if passed on to the consumer – could mean coffee prices rise.
The sanctions on the Colombian government and its supporters and the breakdown in diplomatic relations it signals are very significant.
Trump’s own choice for deputy secretary of state, Christopher Landau, argued that “working with other countries to stem such migration flows” must be a “global imperative of American foreign policy.”
Tens of thousands of migrants every year from around the world, from India to China, head north to the US after landing in South America and traveling through Colombia, usually facilitating criminal gangs.
The move will no doubt make it harder for the Trump administration to work with Colombia to stop it.
Also on Sunday, Petro said more than 15,666 Americans were in Colombia illegally – a figure the BBC could not independently verify.
Petro said that unlike the Trump administration, he would “never” be seen conducting a crackdown to bring illegal migrants back to the US.
The rift between the two nations comes as the Trump administration has vowed to carry out “mass deportations.” The president signed multiple immigration-related executive orders on his first day in office.
Some of Trump’s executive orders were signed to expand immigration and the ability of Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest and detain illegal migrants on American soil.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said 538 arrests were made on Thursday alone.
By comparison, ICE detained more than 149,700 people under the Biden Administration in fiscal year 2024, an average of 409 per day.
Trump declared a national emergency at the Mexican border, ordered officials to deny citizenship to children of migrants in the US illegally or on temporary visas and re-implemented his “stay in Mexico” policy since his first term.
On Saturday, US Vice President JD Vance told CBS’s Face the Nation that he supports “law enforcement against violent criminals.”
“Just because we were founded by immigrants doesn’t mean we have to have the stupidest immigration policy in the world 240 years later,” Margaret Brennan told CBS.
Tom Homan, Trump’s “border czar,” told ABC News on Sunday that the military is currently at the U.S.-Mexico border assisting with outbound flights of military aircraft and construction infrastructure to secure the border.
“It sends a strong signal to the world: our border is closed,” he said.
Trump ran on securing the southern border and reducing the number of undocumented immigrants entering the US.
Additional reporting by Iona Wells
