With Valentine’s Day approaching, President Donald Trump’s threat to impose a 25 percent tax on imports from Colombia is raising concerns, especially amid growing tensions over deported immigrants.
Colombia is the United States’ top source of cut flowers for the upcoming occasion.
With the US importing USD 1.14 billion worth of cut flowers from Colombia by November—surpassing the total for all of 2023, according to the US Department of Agriculture—the country remains a key supplier for the US flower market.
However, in a turn of events, romantics may be spared from the trade dispute’s impact. On Sunday, the White House announced that Colombia had backtracked, agreeing to allow the flights to land, just hours after Trump threatened to impose visa restrictions and hefty tariffs on the longtime South American ally.
The White House announced that tariffs on Colombian exports would be suspended but emphasised that visa restrictions on Colombian officials and enhanced customs inspections would stay in place “until the first planeload of Colombian deportees is successfully returned.”
Earlier, Colombian President Gustavo Petro had refused to allow two US military aircraft carrying migrants to land, accusing Trump of failing to treat immigrants with dignity during deportation.
Petro also threatened to retaliate by imposing a 25 percent tariff increase on US goods. However, late Sunday, the Colombian government indicated the standoff was resolved.
“We have overcome the impasse with the United States government,” said Colombian foreign minister Luis Gilberto Murillo.
“We will continue to receive returning Colombians, ensuring they are treated with dignity as citizens entitled to rights,” Murillo added.
The US is Colombia’s biggest export market but it accounts for just 0.5 per cent of American goods imports, ranking as the world’s No. 26 importer of goods to the United States.
From January through November, the US ran a USD 1 billion surplus with Colombia last year in goods, as US exports of USD 17.2 billion — including soybeans and cotton — topped imports of USD 16.2 billion.
With AP inputs
