Colombia backs down on deportation flights after Trump tariffs threat

Trump's press secretary Karoline Leavitt posted this picture on X on 24 January announcing that deportation flights had begun. (US Government)

Washington, January 27 — The US will not go ahead with tariffs on Colombia, after Bogota agreed to accept - without restrictions - deported migrants, the White House says.

Donald Trump had ordered 25% tariffs on all Colombian goods after its president barred two US military deportation flights from landing in the country on Sunday.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro had initially responded by saying his country would accept repatriated citizens on "civilian planes, without treating them like criminals".

A White House statement says Colombia has now agreed to accept migrants arriving on US military aircraft "without limitation or delay". Colombia said a dialogue would be maintained to "guarantee the dignity of our citizens".

The White House has hailed the agreement with Colombia as a victory for Trump's hard-line approach, after the country's two leaders traded threats on social media on Sunday.

Colombia's foreign ministry said it had "overcome the impasse" with the US just hours after Petro published a lengthy post on X condemning what he called Trump's "blockade".

Trump's threat to Colombia sends a message

Petro had earlier denied entry to US military deportation flights, saying that migrants should be returned "with dignity and respect".

In response, Trump announced "urgent and decisive retaliatory measures" in a post on his social media site Truth Social, including tariffs and visa sanctions.

Petro responded on X with a post announcing his own tariffs and celebrating Colombia's heritage.

"Your blockade does not scare me, because Colombia, besides being the country of beauty, is the heart of the world," he said.

Within hours, the two sides appeared to have resolved the row, and the White House said Colombia had agreed to "all of President Trump's demands".

Trump's proposed tariffs had been "fully drafted" and would still be implemented if Colombia does not honour this agreement, according to the White House.

Trump had also announced visa sanctions and enhanced inspections on Colombians at the border. These will remain in place "until the first planeload of Colombian deportees is successfully returned", the White House said.

Colombia's foreign minister Luis Gilberto Murillo said the country would "continue to receive Colombians who return as deportees, guaranteeing them decent conditions, as citizens subject to rights".

Petro's presidential plane has been prepared to facilitate the return of the Colombians who would have arrived in the country earlier on the blocked military flights, he added.

Murillo will travel to Washington for high-level meetings in the coming hours, according to a foreign ministry statement.

The feud between the two nations came after Trump's administration vowed to carry out "mass deportations". The president signed multiple executive orders related to immigration on his first day in office.

Some of Trump's executive orders were signed with the aim of expanding Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) ability to arrest and detain unlawful migrants on US soil.

Federal agents conducted "targeted" immigration arrests in Chicago on Sunday, an ICE spokesperson said in a statement.

The agents were accompanied by the newly appointed "border czar" Tom Homan, US officials told CBS News, the BBC's US partner.

Homan said Congress should increase funding for the border effort, which included a need for 100,000 beds in migrant detention centres.

On Thursday, the US Congress passed the Laken Riley Act, which will greatly expand immigration authorities' power to detain migrants.

Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said the bill represents a "fundamental erosion of civil rights".