Colombia Agrees to Trump’s terms and returns its refugees

The sudden crisis that erupted between Colombia and the United States in the past hours has been resolved.

The White House announced, Monday, in a statement that Colombia has agreed to the conditions imposed by US President Donald Trump regarding the return of illegal immigrants to their country.

The statement also said that the sanctions imposed on Bogota would be lifted.

It explained that the Colombian government accepted all of Trump’s conditions, including the immediate and unconditional acceptance of the return of all illegal immigrants from the United States on American military aircraft, without any delay.

White House spokeswoman Caroline Levitt said the tariffs, which were to hit 25 percent on Colombian imports and then rise to 50% within a week, wouldn’t go into effect for now.

However, Levitt stressed that Trump would maintain visa restrictions on Colombian officials, and that customs inspections of goods coming from Colombia would be increased until the first planeload of deportees was successfully returned.

Trump had vowed, in a statement on Sunday, to impose heavy tariffs and sanctions on Colombia because its president, Gustavo Petro, refused to receive military planes carrying Colombian deportees.

Trump said on the Truth Social platform that Petro’s refusal to accept these flights poses a threat to US national security, noting that his administration had taken immediate retaliatory steps.

In contrast, Colombian President Petro posted a sarcastic tweet in which he said he didn’t enjoy traveling to the United States and found it boring, in defiance of Washington’s decision to ban Colombian officials from traveling, but hours later, he retweeted a White House statement accepting the terms.

It’s worth noting that the crisis began after Colombia refused to receive a group of deportees on an American military aircraft, considering the method inappropriate.