White House says US-Colombia agreement in place after back-and-forth over tariffs, immigration
The White House said Sunday night that a U.S.-Colombia agreement had come together in the wake of a back-and-forth between the two countries over topics including immigration and tariffs.
"The Government of Colombia has agreed to all of President 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,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement emailed to The Hill late Sunday.
“Based on this agreement, the fully drafted IEEPA tariffs and sanctions will be held in reserve, and not signed, unless Colombia fails to honor this agreement,” she added. “The visa sanctions issued by the State Department, and enhanced inspections from Customs and Border Protection, will remain in effect until the first planeload of Colombian deportees is successfully returned.”
On Sunday night, Colombian President Gustavo Petro reposted Leavitt’s statement on the social platform X.
Earlier in the day, Petro pushed back against “the entry of American planes carrying Colombian migrants into our territory” on X. Trump later went after Petro on his Truth Social platform, saying he “was just informed that two repatriation flights from the United States, with a large number of Illegal Criminals, were not allowed to land in Colombia.”
“This order was given by Colombia’s Socialist President Gustavo Petro, who is already very unpopular amongst his people,” he added.
Trump added that the Colombian president’s “denial of these flights has jeopardized the National Security and Public Safety of the United States,” and that, therefore, he had “directed my Administration to immediately take the following urgent and decisive retaliatory measures,” including U.S.-bound goods facing tariffs of 25 percent and the prohibition of travel “on the Colombian Government Officials, and all Allies and Supporters.”
Petro ordered the raising of import tariffs on goods from the U.S. in response to Trump’s tariffs and sanctions. In a post on X later Sunday, he said he had directed the “foreign trade minister to raise import tariffs from the U.S. by 25%.”
The Hill has reached out to the Colombian government for comment.