Donald Trump has won a battle with Colombia after threatening a trade war when the country refused to accept deported migrants.

The US president said he would retaliate with “urgent and decisive” measures – including 25% emergency tariffs on Colombian goods – after the country turned away two US military planes.

Onboard were migrants being deported from America as part of Mr Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown.

But in a statement on Sunday, the White House said Colombia had backed down.

“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,” it said.

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Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro. File pic: AP

The US leader previously said Colombian president Gustavo Petro’s action “jeopardised the national security and public safety of the United States” in a statement on Truth Social.

The initial response from the Colombian president was bullish. He threatened to respond with 50% tariffs on goods from the US, telling Mr Trump in a post on X: “Your blockade does not scare me, because Colombia, besides being the country of beauty, is the heart of the world.”

President Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself alongside a sign reading FAFO, which usually stands for "f**k around, find out". Pic: Donald Trump / Truth Social
Image:
The US president posted an AI-generated image of himself. Pic: Donald Trump/Truth Social

Mr Trump posted a defiant message online: “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!”

His post was quickly followed by an AI-generated image showing the president in a fedora hat, alongside a sign reading FAFO, which usually stands for “f*** around, find out”.

In a statement late on Sunday, Colombian foreign minister Luis Gilberto Murillo said: “We have overcome the impasse with the US government.”

Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo reacts during a press conference at the Colombian Foreign Ministry on the day U.S. President Donald Trump announced the imposition of tariffs and sanctions after Colombian President Gustavo Petro refused to allow flights with deported Colombians to enter the country, in Bogota, Colombia, January 26, 2025. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez
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Colombia’s foreign minister Luis Gilberto Murillo told reporters an agreement had been reached with the US. Pic: Reuters

Sunday’s White House statement added that draft orders, imposing tariffs and sanctions on Colombia, would be “held in reserve, and not signed, unless Colombia fails to honour this agreement”.

There was also a warning to other countries. “Today’s events make clear to the world that America is respected again. President Trump… expects all other nations of the world to fully cooperate in accepting the deportation of their citizens illegally present in the United States.”

Before backing down, President Petro had demanded migrants deported by the US should be treated with dignity and respect.

“The US cannot treat Colombian migrants as criminals,” Mr Petro wrote on X, noting that there were 15,660 Americans without proper immigration status in Colombia.

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Migrants: ‘Door was slammed in our face’

Colombia’s decision to block military migrant flights follows a similar one by Mexico, which refused a request to let a US military aircraft land with migrants on Thursday.

There is growing discontent in South American countries as Mr Trump’s week-old administration begins mass deportations.

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On Saturday, Brazil’s foreign ministry condemned the “degrading treatment” of Brazilians after migrants were handcuffed on a commercial deportation flight.

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Brazilian officials ordered the removal of the handcuffs when the plane landed and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva designated a Brazilian Air Force (FAB) flight to complete their journey, the government said in a statement on Saturday.

Using military aircraft to carry out deportation flights is a response to Mr Trump’s national emergency declaration on immigration on Monday.

Although US military aircraft have been used in emergencies like the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, this is the first time in recent memory they have been used to fly migrants out of the country, one US official said.

Military aircraft carried out two similar flights, each with about 80 migrants, to Guatemala on Friday.