The possibility of a trade war between the United States and Colombia briefly erupted on Sunday that threatened to make coffee, flowers and raw materials more expensive for Americans, and put billions of dollars in sales for U.S. corn growers and chemical companies at risk.
Relations between the two countries quickly deteriorated after the South American country refused to receive U.S. military planes carrying deported immigrants. In response, President Trump said on social media that he would immediately impose tariffs on all Colombian imports and Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, threatened his own tariffs hours later.
Late on Sunday, the leaders appeared to settle their differences, with Colombia’s foreign ministry saying that it would allow U.S. military planes to fly deportees into the country and “guarantee dignified conditions.” As a result, tariffs would be “held in reserve,” according to a White House statement.
The United States is Colombia’s largest trading partner, but Colombian products make up a relatively minor share of U.S. imports. Some Colombian products are much more exposed than others.
Crude oil is by far the United States’ most valuable Colombian import, accounting for $5.4 billion of the $16 billion worth of products the United States imported from there in 2023, but that’s just a tiny share of overall crude imports. Colombia accounted for more than a third of the total nursery stock imports and about 20 percent of coffee imports, according to the Census Bureau.
Although the U.S. economy is a vastly bigger market than Colombia’s, it would feel some pain in a trade war. U.S. makers of petroleum products, for instance, did about $2.5 billion in business with Colombia in 2023. The next most valuable annual exports to the country were corn ($1.2 billion) and chemicals ($1 billion).
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