Trump advisor says they don’t foresee imminent announcements of tariffs on Colombia

The economic advisor to President Donald Trump, Kevin Hassett, stated this Monday that the White House does not currently plan to announce a tariff increase on Colombia, one day after the president said he planned to take trade retaliatory measures against Bogota amid a diplomatic crisis. “We’ll see. For now, there’s no announcement planned,” Hasset responded briefly to questions from the press at the entrance to the U.S. executive residence. The director of the National Economic Council did not offer details on how much tariffs on Colombia could increase, which since April faces a 10% tariff base, similar to that imposed by the U.S. on most Latin American nations, as part of the trade war launched by Trump.

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Both countries are going through a new diplomatic crisis after the Republican president announced this Sunday the end of financial aid to the South American country for its alleged inaction in the fight against drug trafficking, and accused his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, of being “a drug trafficking leader”. Petro, who has doubled down on his criticisms of Trump since the latter ordered a military deployment in the Caribbean and attacks against vessels under the pretext of combating drug trafficking, has denied the accusations and called the American “rude and ignorant with Colombia”. Hours later, Trump confirmed that he planned to impose new tariffs against Bogota, after Republican Senator Lindsey Graham announced that the White House was preparing trade sanctions against the Andean nation. Trump already threatened last January to impose 25% tariffs on Colombia for Petro’s refusal to receive two flights of deported migrants, but the Colombian president ended up giving in.