US President Donald Trump has said he will impose sweeping retaliatory measures on Colombia, including tariffs and sanctions, after it turned away two US military aircraft with migrants being deported.
President Trump's punitive action appeared aimed at making an example of Colombia, the second case of a Latin American nation refusing US military deportation flights.
It was a demonstration of a more muscular US foreign policy and showed a renewed willingness by President Trump to use the might of the US to force other countries to bend to his will.
President Trump claimed on Truth Social that the refusal by Colombian President Gustavo Petro to accept the flights jeopardised US national security.
The retaliatory measures include imposing 25% tariffs on all Colombian goods coming into the United States, which will go up to 50% in one week; a travel ban and visa revocations on Colombian government officials; and emergency treasury, banking and financial sanctions.
He also claimed he would also direct enhanced border inspections of Colombian nationals and cargo.
"These measures are just the beginning," President Trump wrote.
"We will not allow the Colombian government to violate its legal obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the criminals they forced into the United States!"
He posted a picture of himself on Truth Social in a pinstripe suit and a fedora in front of a sign reading FAFO, short for "Fuck Around and Find Out."
The US will "no longer be lied to nor taken advantage of," US Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed in a statement.
He added that President Petro had authorised these flights and provided all needed authorisations but then cancelled his authorisation when the planes were in the air.
Sweeping crackdown
The US president declared illegal immigration a national emergency and imposed a sweeping crackdown since taking office last Monday.
He directed the US military to help with border security, issuing a broad ban on asylum and taking steps to restrict citizenship for children born on US soil.
Colombia's president condemned the practice, suggesting it treated migrants like criminals.
In a post on social media platform X, President Petro said Colombia would welcome home deported migrants on civilian planes.
"The US cannot treat Colombian migrants as criminals," President Petro wrote.
President Petro said even though there were 15,660 Americans without legal immigration status in Colombia, he would never carry out a raid to return handcuffed Americans to the United States.
"We are the opposite of the Nazis," he wrote, in a jab at President Trump.
Mexico also refused a request last week to let a US military aircraft land with migrants.
President Trump did not take similar action against Mexico, its largest trading partner, but has said he was thinking about imposing 25% duties on imports from Canada and Mexico on 1 February to force further action against illegal immigrants and fentanyl flowing into the US.
The United States is Colombia's largest trade and investment partner, the State Department said, and Colombia is also the US' third-largest trade partner in Latin America.
"Petro's finding out that tweets have consequences. He's not faced a US counterpart that looks at Colombia through a strategic lens, as a key ally, but as a country to make an example of," said Sergio Guzman, director of consultancy Colombia Risk Analysis.
Mr Guzman added that financial sanctions could be potentially economically crippling.
Alejo Czerwonko, chief investment officer for emerging markets Americas at UBS Global Wealth Management, said Colombia relied on access to the US market for about a third of its exports, or about 4% of its GDP.
"In addition, the Petro-Trump relationship has started off on the wrong foot, which could signal additional challenges ahead," Mr Czerwonko told Reuters.
Growing discontent
President Petro's comments add to the growing chorus of discontent in Latin America as President Trump's new administration starts mobilising for mass deportations.
Brazil's foreign ministry yesterday condemned "degrading treatment" of Brazilians after migrants were handcuffed on a commercial deportation flight. Upon arrival, some of the passengers also reported mistreatment during the flight, according to local news reports.
The plane, which was carrying 88 Brazilian passengers, 16 US security agents, and eight crew members, had been originally scheduled to arrive in Belo Horizonte in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais.
However, at an unscheduled stop due to technical problems in Manaus, capital of Amazonas, Brazilian officials ordered the removal of the handcuffs, and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva designated a Brazilian Air Force (FAB) flight to complete their journey, the government said in a statement.
The commercial charter flight was the second this year from the US carrying undocumented migrants deported back to Brazil and the first since President Trump's inauguration, according to Brazil's federal police.
Officials from the US State Department, Pentagon, US Department of Homeland Security and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
The use of US military aircraft to carry out deportation flights is part of the Pentagon's response to President Trump's national emergency declaration on immigration.
In the past, US military aircraft have been used to relocate individuals from one country to another, like during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
This has been the first time in recent memory that US military aircraft were used to fly migrants out of the country, one US official said.
US military aircraft carried out two similar flights, each with about 80 migrants, to Guatemala on Friday.
