On Sunday, the United States and Colombia stepped back from the brink of a trade war after the White House announced that Colombian officials had agreed to accept military aircraft carrying deported migrants.
The US president, Donald Trump, had threatened Colombia with tariffs and sanctions in response to its earlier refusal to accept military flights carrying deportees as part of his sweeping immigration crackdown.
However, in a statement issued late Sunday, the White House said Colombia had agreed to accept the migrants and that Washington would not impose the threatened penalties.
“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 US military aircraft, without limitation or delay,” according to the statement.
“Today’s events make clear to the world that America is respected again.”
Colombia’s foreign minister, Luis Gilberto Murillo, announced late Sunday that “we have overcome the impasse with the US government”.
“We will continue receiving Colombians who return as deportees,” he informed us. His statement did not specify whether the agreement included military flights, but it did not contradict the White House announcement.
According to the Colombian statement, Murillo and Colombia’s ambassador to the United States will travel to Washington in the coming days to follow up on agreements reached during an exchange of diplomatic notes between the two governments.
Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, had previously stated that he would only return citizens “with dignity,” such as on civilian planes, and had turned back two US military aircraft carrying repatriated Colombians.
Petro responded by increasing import tariffs on goods from the United States. Petro said he directed the “foreign trade minister to raise import tariffs from the United States by 25%.”
“American products whose price will rise within the national economy must be replaced by national production, and the government will help in this regard,” according to the post. The United States is Colombia’s largest trading partner, with exports including crude petroleum, coffee, and cut flowers.
The two leaders’ exchange reflected rising tensions between Latin American governments and Washington over US deportation flights. Mexico reportedly refused to receive a similar flight on Saturday, according to US officials cited by Reuters and NBC News.
Colombia’s president stated, “A migrant is not a criminal and must be treated with the dignity that every human being deserves.”
“That is why I ordered the return of US military planes carrying Colombian migrants,” Petro wrote, sharing a video of Brazilian deportees shackled at the wrists and ankles after being flown out of the United States on Friday.
He went on to say, “I cannot force migrants to remain in a country that does not want them.” However, if that country does return them, it must do so with dignity and respect for both them and our nation. We will welcome our compatriots on civilian planes, without treating them as criminals. “Colombia deserves respect.”
Marco Rubio, Trump’s secretary of state, issued a statement saying: “Colombian President Petro authorized flights and provided all necessary authorizations before canceling his authorization once the planes were in the air.”
“President Trump has made it clear that under his administration, America will no longer be lied to nor taken advantage of.”
A flight carrying 88 deported Brazilians arrived in Brazil, but not before sparking the first diplomatic clash between Trump’s new administration and Brazil’s leftist president, Luiz InĂ¡cio Lula da Silva.
The flight, which departed Alexandria, Louisiana, on Friday, was bound for Belo Horizonte in south-eastern Brazil. However, due to technical issues, it made unscheduled stops in Panama and Manaus, northern Brazil.
US officials reportedly attempted to continue the journey, but the Brazilian government intervened, sending an air force plane to complete the final leg without handcuffs or leg irons. The deportees arrived in Belo Horizonte around 9 p.m. on Saturday.
In a statement issued on Sunday, Brazil’s ministry of foreign affairs announced it would file a formal “request for clarification” with the US government over the “degrading treatment” of the deportees, including six children who were reportedly not restrained.
Deportation flights have continued since the first Trump administration signed an agreement with Brazil in 2017. Last year alone, 17 flights carried deportees from Alexandria to Belo Horizonte.
However, the Brazilian government claims that the use of handcuffs and leg irons “violates the terms of the agreement with the US, which requires the dignified, respectful, and humane treatment of deportees”.
Deportees told Brazilian media upon arrival that they had been assaulted and threatened by US agents during the flight.
An internal Department of Homeland Security memo obtained by the New York Times reveals that the Trump administration is implementing a new set of stringent measures to expedite deportations. The directive grants Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers broad authority to expedite removals.
Officials from the US State Department, Pentagon, Department of Homeland Security, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The use of US military aircraft to carry out deportation flights is part of the Pentagon’s response to Trump’s declaration of a national emergency on immigration following his inauguration.
Previously, US military aircraft have been used to transport individuals from one country to another, such as during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
This was the first time in recent memory that US military aircraft were used to transport migrants out of the country, according to a US official.