United States President Donald Trump has instigated his first international tariff dispute, following a row with Colombia over deportees. The US President announced a 25% tariff on the country after the South American country blocked the United States military flights transporting deportees.
However, the new tariffs have been predicted to affect Americans negatively, driving up the prices of daily items like coffee.
Donald Trump levies tariff after blocked deportation flights
Relations between the United States and Colombia were the first to go sour after the country denied two military planes with deportees permission to land. Taking to Truth Social, Trump called out the Colombian government in a post. “We will not allow the Colombian Government to violate its legal obligations about the acceptance and return of the Criminals they forced into the United States!,” Trump said.
In a follow-up post, Trump threatened to impose 25% tariffs on all imports coming into Colombia, adding that he would increase it to 50% in a week. In addition, he also said the government will revoke the visas of all supporters, and allies, and even add travel bans. Trump also threatened the government of Colombia, adding that he would impose visa sanctions on all party members and the families of the Colombian government.
In response to Trump’s statement, Colombian President Gustavo Petro mentioned that he would also impose a 50% tariff on the United States. Petro also talked about the travel ban, noting that he doesn’t like visiting the United States, calling the place boring. He also called out Trump, saying that he thinks of himself highly compared to him and other Colombians. Petro added that he is a bit stubborn, noting that he was prepared to fight Trump’s impositions.
The new tariff will affect the price of basic products in the US
The tariffs threatened by the presidents of both countries could end up hurting both countries, leading to losses of billions in US dollars. According to the US Trade Representative, trade between the countries results in over $53.5 billion annually, with the United States seeing a surplus of $3.9 billion. Colombia is responsible for about a third of the nursery imports and 20% of coffee imports.
The price of coffee was up by 4% in 2024, and with valentines on the way, Americans could be facing an additional increase. According to the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC), coffee and flowers from Colombia are around $1.8 billion and $1.6 billion, respectively, ranking in second and third place in experts from Colombia to the US after crude oil at $5.4 billion.
In addition, the United States sources avocado and bananas from Colombia, two other products that could see their prices shoot up over the next few days. If Colombia goes ahead with the tariffs, it may also affect US industrialists working in petroleum and chemicals, including corn farmers. The United States earned about $2.5 billion from the sale of petroleum in 2023. In addition, its annual import sales of corn and chemicals in the same period also hit $1.2 billion and $1 billion, respectively.