Bogota.- The president of Colombia, Abelardo de la Espriella, asked his American counterpart this Saturday, Donald Trump, to temporarily suspend the tariffs affecting Colombian products to provide relief to business owners as they face the economic consequences of the earthquake that shook several regions of the country on Monday.
De la Espriella stated that he held a ten-minute telephone conversation with Trump, whom he thanked for “all the financial aid and the support from the United States rescue teams” deployed after the emergency.
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The Colombian president explained that he proposed to Trump the need to temporarily suspend the 12.5% tariff that the United States applies to some Colombian imports such as flowers, with the aim of providing relief to the country’s business owners while they face the economic consequences of the earthquake.
“I told (Trump) that we have a huge challenge ahead of us: to rebuild Colombia in the midst of the very difficult and apocalyptic economic situation that I inherited,” De la Espriella pointed out on X, alluding to Colombia’s fiscal deficit, equivalent to 6.4% of GDP in 2025, and a public debt that reached a record 1.167 trillion pesos (about 373.85 billion dollars) at the end of the first semester.
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According to the Colombian president, Trump expressed his condolences for the victims of the earthquake and his solidarity with the affected families, and expressed his “affection for Colombia” and his support for the country’s reconstruction.
“Today, more than ever, the alliance between Colombia and the United States is an imperative for the reconstruction of our beloved nation,” stated De la Espriella after the conversation with Trump.
The Colombian president also spoke this Saturday with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he thanked for the humanitarian aid and the sending of rescue teams from Israel to Colombia.
The earthquake, whose epicenter was in the vicinity of San José del Palmar, in the department of Chocó, has left 294 dead, 3,935 injured, and 320 missing as of this Saturday, according to the latest report from the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD).
