Foreign
Trump plans sanction Colombia for violating deportation push
- /home/naijuinz/public_html/wp-content/plugins/mvp-social-buttons/mvp-social-buttons.php on line 27
https://naijablitznews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Donald-Trump-1-1000x575.jpg&description=Trump plans sanction Colombia for violating deportation push', 'pinterestShare', 'width=750,height=350'); return false;" title="Pin This Post">
- Share
- Tweet /home/naijuinz/public_html/wp-content/plugins/mvp-social-buttons/mvp-social-buttons.php on line 72
https://naijablitznews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Donald-Trump-1-1000x575.jpg&description=Trump plans sanction Colombia for violating deportation push', 'pinterestShare', 'width=750,height=350'); return false;" title="Pin This Post">
US President Donald Trump has said he will impose 25% tariffs and sanctions on Colombia after its president barred two US military planes carrying deported migrants from landing in the country.
Trump said the tariffs “on all goods” coming into the US from Colombia would be put in place “immediately”, and in one week the 25% tariffs would be raised to 50%.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro responded by saying he would impose retaliatory tariffs of 25% on the US.
Petro earlier on Sunday said he had denied entry to US military deportation flights. He said he would “receive our fellow citizens on civilian planes, without treating them like criminals” and migrants must be returned “with dignity and respect”.
US officials told the BBC’s US partner, CBS News, that two military planes from San Diego were due to land in Colombia on Sunday with migrant deportees, but those plans were scrapped due to complications.
In response, Trump announced “urgent and decisive retaliatory measures” in a post on TruthSocial. He said the US will impose a travel ban and “immediate visa revocations” on Colombian government officials, as well as its allies and supporters.
Trump also said there would be visa sanctions on supporters of the Colombian government, and enhanced Customs and Border Protection inspections “of all Colombian nationals and cargo on national security grounds”.
“These measures are just the beginning,” Trump added, saying his administration would 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”.
Petro responded on X by announcing his own tariffs and celebrating Colombia’s heritage and resilience.
“Your blockade does not scare me, because Colombia, besides being the country of beauty, is the heart of the world,” he said.
He also offered his presidential plane to facilitate the “decent return” of deportees from the US who had been set to arrive in the country.
Also on Sunday, Petro said more than 15,666 Americans were in Colombia illegally – a figure the BBC has not been able to independently verify.
Petro said that unlike the Trump administration, he would “never” be seen carrying out a raid to return illegal US migrants.
The US imports about 20% of its coffee – worth nearly $2bn (£1.6bn) – from Colombia, as well as other goods like bananas, crude oil, avocados and flowers.
Tariffs will make importing these goods more expensive which, if passed onto the consumer, could mean higher coffee prices rising.
Importers could shift to other sources to avoid this, which would in turn hit Colombian producers by reducing a key market.
The sanctions and travel bans on the Colombian government and its supporters, and the breakdown in diplomatic relations that signals, are also significant.
This is now not just a war of trade, but a war of words.
It is no secret that Petro does not like Trump – he has heavily criticised his policies on migration and the environment in the past. That just ratcheted up.
Petro said Trump would “wipe out the human species because of greed” and accused Trump of considering Colombians an “inferior race.” He went on to say that he is “stubborn” and that while Trump can try to “carry out a coup” with “economic strength and arrogance” he will, in short, fight back.
“From today on, Colombia is open to the entire world, with open arms,” he said.
While Trump is unlikely to take threats from Colombia, this is something that should worry a US president who wants to tackle migration.
Trump’s own pick for deputy secretary of state, Christopher Landau, has argued that “working with other countries to stop such migratory flows” must be a “global imperative of US foreign policy”.
Tens of thousands of migrants from around the world head north towards the US after landing in South America each year, travelling up through Colombia, usually facilitated by criminal gangs.
The latest developments will no doubt make it harder for Trump’s administration to work with Colombia to stop this.
The feud between the two nations comes as Trump’s administration has vowed to carry out “mass deportations”. The president signed multiple executive orders related to immigration on his first day in office.
Some of Trump’s executive orders were signed with the aim of expanding Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) ability to arrest and detain unlawful migrants on US soil.
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said that 538 arrests were conducted on Thursday alone.
For comparison, ICE detained more than 149,700 people in the 2024 fiscal year under the Biden administration, which equals an average of 409 a day.
Trump declared a national emergency at the Mexico border, ordered officials to deny the right to citizenship to the children of migrants in the US illegally or on temporary visas and re-implemented his “Remain in Mexico” policy from his first term.
On Saturday, US Vice President JD Vance told CBS’s Face the Nation that he supports “doing law enforcement against violent criminals”.
“Just because we were founded by immigrants doesn’t mean that 240 years later that we have to have the dumbest immigration policy in the world,” he told CBS’s Margaret Brennan.
Tom Homan, Trump’s “border tsar” told ABC News on Sunday that the military is currently at the US-Mexico border helping with departure flights on military planes and building infrastructure to secure the border.
“It’s sending a strong signal to the world: Our border is closed,” he said.
Trump campaigned on securing the southern border and reducing the number of undocumented immigrants who enter the US.
US President Donald Trump has vowed that American military strikes on Iran will continue until he personally decides they have achieved their objectives, declaring that the campaign will not stop “until I say it’s enough.”
Speaking with Fox News on Tuesday, July 24, Trump said the US forces would ‘hit them very hard tonight, very hard tomorrow night’ in a brutal campaign that won’t stop until he says ‘enough.’
‘I’ll save the energy targets for last, but ultimately we’ll hit energy targets,’ Trump warned.
‘We’re going to hit them very hard the night after, and then next week it gets really bad for them because next week comes the power plants.’
Trump also said the US would target bridges next week unless Iran was willing to negotiate a peace deal that included giving up their nuclear ambitions.
He vowed the attacks will continue ‘until I say it’s enough.’
In an update late on Tuesday night, CENTCOM advised another round of strikes had been completed, hitting dozens of military targets near the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian coastal areas.
‘US fighter aircraft, drones, and naval vessels launched precision munitions against Iranian missile and drone sites, naval capabilities, and coastal defense systems during the seven-hour wave to further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping and civilian crews,’ the update said.
US forces resumed the naval blockade against vessels transiting to or from Iranian ports and coastal areas.
The latest US bombing comes after Trump notified Congress that the war would resume after Iran breached the memorandum of understanding by targeting commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump did not rule out using US ground forces to ensure that his key objectives are met, especially when it comes to removing Iran’s enriched uranium.
US forces had been careful not to harm Iran’s civilian population with strikes, but Trump warned Iran that everything was on the table.
‘You better make a deal, or you’re not going to have anything left,’ he said.
The President also likened Iran to ‘a great boxer’ that needed to be put to the mat.
‘You think you have them beat, then they’ll come back and give you a shot,’ Trump said.
Trump suggested later in the interview with Fox News that he wasn’t interested in continuing negotiations with Iran because ‘they lie.’
He also said the last contact he had with negotiators was an hour ago.
The President praised his Cabinet for its work on the Iran issue, including Pete Hegseth, as he said ‘oil is flowing like never before.’
He also announced he was replacing the 20 percent fee the US was charging on the Strait of Hormuz to various Gulf States.
Children aged 16 and 17-year-olds in the UK will face a voluntary overnight social media curfew, alongside a shutdown of infinite scrolling and mandatory breaks in AI chatbot use, under new plans announced by Technology Secretary Liz Kendall.
According to a report by The Independent UK on Tuesday, the measures form part of the government’s wider restrictions on children’s social media use, and will see default settings block access for older teenagers between midnight and 6 am.
Kendall, in a statement, said, “These measures will be crucial in helping young people get the sleep they need, focus on school and college, and spend more quality time with family and friends, all of which are fundamental to building a happy, healthy and fulfilling adult life.
“We want young people to enjoy the benefits of technology while having the tools to make the online world a place where they can thrive.”
The Independent said features designed to keep users engaged, such as never-ending video reels and algorithmic feeds, will also be automatically switched off under the new defaults.
However, the report noted that critics have questioned how effective the measures will be, given that 16 and 17-year-olds will be able to turn off these default settings themselves.
The curfew plan follows last month’s announcement of a broader social media ban for under-16s by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s government, expected to cover platforms including Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X, but not messaging services such as WhatsApp and Signal, from next spring, according to the newspaper.
The report added that responsibility for working out key details of the policy will fall to Andy Burnham, who is set to become prime minister after winning the Makerfield by-election.
Kendall is also reportedly pushing new safeguards for children using artificial intelligence, including requiring under-18s to take regular breaks while using chatbots, and a crackdown on AI services that give dangerous, misleading or unverified mental health advice.
Ministers are said to be considering banning chatbots deemed a serious threat to children.
Conservative shadow education secretary Laura Trott reportedly criticised the plan, describing it as “another dog’s dinner from Labour” and arguing that curfews teenagers can simply switch off “won’t achieve anything.”
The South African government has reaffirmed its visa exemption policy, allowing citizens of 22 African countries to enter the country without obtaining a visa in advance, subject to the permitted duration of stay and applicable entry conditions.
According to the country’s official visa exemption policy, eligible travellers may enter South Africa for periods ranging from 30 to 90 days, depending on their nationality.
The African countries currently eligible for visa-free entry include:
Algeria – up to 30 days
Benin – 30 days or less
Botswana – up to 90 days
Cabo Verde (Cape Verde) – 30 days or less
Comoros – up to 90 days
Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) – up to 30 days
Gabon – 30 days or less
Guinea – up to 90 days
Kenya – up to 30 days
Lesotho – 30 days or less
Madagascar – up to 30 days
Malawi – 30 days or less
Mauritius – 30 days or less
Mozambique – up to 90 days
Namibia – 30 days or less
Rwanda – up to 30 days
Seychelles – 30 days or less
Eswatini – 30 days or less
Tanzania – up to 90 days for ordinary passport holders
Tunisia – up to 90 days
Zambia – 30 days or less
Zimbabwe – up to 90 days
South Africa also grants visa-free entry to holders of the African Union Laissez-Passer and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Laissez-Passer under its exemption policy.
Authorities, however, noted that visa-free access for some countries, including Kenya, Benin and Gabon, is subject to specific conditions. Travellers are therefore advised to confirm the latest entry requirements with South African authorities before making travel arrangements.
Notably, Nigeria is not among the countries currently eligible for visa-free entry into South Africa, meaning Nigerian passport holders are still required to obtain a visa before travelling.
93 percent of inmates are State offenders, half don’t need jail — Tunji-Ojo
BBNaija season 11 to debut July 26 with N160m grand prize
Corruption Charges: Ex-CCT Chairman Umar gets N100m bail as trial begins Oct 29
-
News20 hours agoDAY 26 of Projects Commissioning in the FCT:
-
News18 hours agoSenate Moves to Amend Electoral Act After Dozens of Incumbent NASS Members Lose Party Tickets
-
News20 hours agoAkpabio Declares Open National Assembly Open Week, Charges Parliament on Transparency
-
News18 hours agoAppeal Court reserves verdict on derecognition of ADC, four parties
-
Sports18 hours agoArsenal legend, Henry reacts to France World Cup defeat, says Spain was far more superior
-
News14 hours agoOyo kidnappings : Senate donates N50m to families of slain teachers, soldiers
-
News12 hours agoAngry Wife Bites Husband’s Manhood After Filing Her Teeth To Make It Sharper
-
News18 hours agoTaraba APC dispute: Electoral victories should not breed arrogance, exclusion – Kefas tells candidates
Warning: Undefined variable $user_ID in /home/naijuinz/public_html/wp-content/themes/zox-news/comments.php on line 49
You must be logged in to post a comment Login