Co-operate or else: Trump’s Colombia face-off is warning for all leaders

Colombia has backed down from a tariff war, but the tactic poses a test for the new Trump administration.

If future sanctions lead to higher prices for US consumers, will the American public object? Will they be willing to tolerate some financial pain incurred to advance Trump’s immigration priorities?

The US imports about 27% of its coffee from Colombia, according to the US Department of Agriculture, as well as other goods like bananas, crude oil, avocados and flowers. The coffee imports alone are worth nearly $2bn (£1.6bn).

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

It’s no secret that Petro doesn’t like Donald Trump – he’s heavily criticised his policies on migration and the environment in the past.

In a lengthy response on X, he said Trump would “wipe out the human species because of greed” and accused the US president of considering Colombians an “inferior race”.

Petro went on to describe himself as “stubborn” and said that while Trump could try to “carry out a coup” with “economic strength and arrogance” he would, in short, fight back.

Most significantly, Petro said: “From today on, Colombia is open to the entire world, with open arms.”

This is something that should worry a US president who wants to tackle migration. His incoming administration officials have made clear that that mission will require looking beyond the Mexico border.

Trump’s pick for deputy Secretary of State, Christopher Landau, has long argued that “working with other countries to stop such migratory flows” must be a “global imperative of US foreign policy”. Sunday’s spat might make working together a lot less likely.

Tens of thousands of migrants every year from around the world, from India to China, head north towards the US after landing in South America and travelling up through Colombia across the Darien Gap – a key choke point just north of the Panama-Colombia border. It’s a dangerous journey usually facilitated by criminal gangs.