After a tense battle between the respective presidents of the nations, an agreement was reached on Sunday evening on the return of returned citizens to Colombia from the United States.
Conflict erupted earlier in the day after Colombian President Gustavo Petro blocked two US military flights carrying undocumented immigrants from entering the country.
In a retaliatory response, US President Donald Trump issued threats against Colombia on his social media platform, claiming that Petro’s decision “has put US national security and public safety at risk.”
Trump said in the post that he ordered his administration to impose an emergency 25% tariff on goods entering the United States from Colombia, and he threatened to raise it to 50% in a week. In addition, he said his administration would issue a travel ban and immediately revoke the visas of Colombian government officials — and all of the country’s allies and supporters. Trump further threatened to issue visa sanctions against all party members, family members and supporters of the Colombian government. Finally, he said he would also improve Customs and Border Protection inspections of all Colombian citizens and Colombian cargo.
Trump said he would use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to fully impose the aforementioned Treasury, banking and financial sanctions.
This combination of photos created on Jan. 26, 2025 shows President Donald Trump in Las Vegas, Nev., Jan. 25, 2025, and Colombian President Gustavo Petro in Bogota, May 31, 2024.
Mandel Ngan/Raul Arboleda/AFP via Getty Images
“These measures are just the beginning,” Trump said in his post. “We will not allow the Colombian government to violate its legal obligations regarding the acceptance and return of the criminals they forced into the United States!” No evidence has been presented that Colombia forced anyone into the United States
Colombia’s foreign ministry confirmed to ABC News that two US military planes had been blocked from landing in Colombia on Sunday. It was not immediately clear whether all 160 passengers aboard the planes were Colombian citizens.
“A migrant is not a criminal and must be treated with the dignity that every human being deserves,” Petro said in a statement published on X Sunday. It contained a video of Brazilian deportees in handcuffs after landing in Brazil.
Brazil’s foreign ministry also issued a statement on Sunday asking the US to clarify the “degrading treatment” of the deportees.
Petro had issued a statement early on the morning of the X saying he opposed US military repatriation planes landing in Colombia – although the country would accept civilian planes repatriating citizens, he added.
But a US defense official told ABC News that the two US Air Force C-17 transport planes had received diplomatic clearance. Then, when the planes were already heading south, Colombia notified the United States that they would not be allowed to land, the defense official said.
In a statement issued on X Sunday afternoon, Petro offered to send his presidential plane to bring deportees to Colombia in a “dignified” manner.
Mexico has also denied U.S. military repatriation flights from landing there, a U.S. official familiar with the situation told ABC News, explaining that such flights are not being prepared until all diplomatic clearances have been completed.
Like Colombia, Mexico does not have a problem with contracted civilian aircraft operating the flights, the official said, and that is what the Department of Homeland Security typically uses.
Discussions are underway, the official added.
In an interview Sunday with Martha Raddatz — ABC News’ chief global affairs correspondent and “This Week” co-anchor — Trump’s “border czar,” Tom Homan, discussed what would happen to countries that won’t take back undocumented immigrants.
“Oh, they’re taking them back,” Homan said. “We got President Trump into power. President Trump puts America first. Mexico didn’t want the ‘Stay in Mexico’ program under the first administration. They did it. They didn’t want to put military on the southern border. They did it .”
But if countries didn’t comply, “then we put them in a third safe country,” he added.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a statement on X Sunday afternoon, saying, “President Trump has made it clear that under his administration, America will no longer be lied to or taken advantage of.”
“It is the responsibility of every nation to take back their citizens who are illegally present in the United States in a serious and expeditious manner,” Rubio wrote. “Colombia’s President Petro had authorized the flights and granted all necessary permits, then rescinded his authorization while the planes were in the air. As demonstrated by today’s actions, we are unwavering in our commitment to stopping illegal immigration and strengthening America’s border security.”
Later in the evening, the US State Department added a post saying that Rubio “immediately ordered a suspension of visa issuance at the US Embassy in Bogota Consular Section” and is now “authorizing travel sanctions against individuals and their families who were responsible for interfering with US repatriation flights .”
Tariffs are a tax on imports that American companies pay to import their goods, and the higher costs are largely passed on to consumers.
Trump’s utilization of a 25% to 50% tariff could have a serious impact on Colombia’s economy because the United States is Colombia’s largest trading partner. According to the US State Department, the US accounts for 34% of Colombia’s total trade.
But it could also hurt U.S. consumers: The U.S. imported $17.5 billion worth of goods from Colombia in 2024, according to Moody’s Analytics.
In particular, Colombia is a top supplier of crude oil to the United States
Reacting to Trump’s threatened sanctions late Sunday, Petro said in a post on X that Colombia will impose reciprocal 50% tariffs on US goods.
“I have been told that you impose a 50% tariff on the fruits of our human labor to enter the United States and I am doing the same,” Petro said in the impassioned post.
Later that evening, US House Speaker Mike Johnson threatened in a statement on X that Congress is “fully prepared” to pass sanctions and “other measures” against Colombia.
The White House issued a statement shortly after 10 p.m. Sunday, saying Colombia had accepted all of Trump’s terms, “including the unrestricted acceptance of all illegal aliens from Colombia returned from the United States, including on U.S. military aircraft, without limitation or delay.”
The statement also said that the International Economic Powers Act drafted by Trump would not go into effect unless Colombia failed to comply with the agreement with the US
“The visa sanctions issued by the State Department and enhanced inspections by Customs and Border Protection will remain in effect until the first planeload of Colombian deportees has been returned,” it said.
Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo Urrutia acknowledged the statement shortly after in a video sent to X, saying Colombia would accept repatriates who are transported back with dignity. He also confirmed that Petro would send his presidential plane to pick up the citizens who had been on the rejected military planes, but he did not specify when that would happen.
The secretary of state said a high-level diplomatic meeting between the United States and Colombia would take place in a few days.
“Colombia ratifies that it will maintain diplomatic dialogue channels to guarantee the rights, national interests and dignity of our citizens,” he said in the video.
ABC News’ Luis Martinez, Selina Wang, Hannah Demissie and Nate Luna contributed to this report.
