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Do as I say, or else…
Just Trump threatening tariffs makes everyone yield
Threats work. They always have.
And this time was no different when Trump decided to bare his teeth at Colombia. An interesting little detail: it only took waving 25% tariffs on Colombian imports for President Gustavo Petro, known for his anti-American stance and inflammatory human rights rhetoric, to bend his knees in record time.
The dance began when Petro refused two American military planes loaded with deportees. Justification? The “inhumane treatment” of immigrants. Noble cause, right? But the nobility lasted exactly until Trump announced that tariffs would rise to 50% in a week.
Like magic, the humanitarian discourse evaporated and military planes were authorized to land.
Petro started the day rejecting flights and calling Trump a “white enslaver.” He ended the night with a lukewarm statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs promising “dignified conditions” for deportees. Dignity, apparently, has a price — and quite a specific one.
Bilateral trade reached $53.5 billion in 2022. Colombia depends on the US to sell its oil, coffee, and flowers. Americans, in turn, flood the country with agricultural products — from pork to dog and cat food. An unequal relationship where we know well who…
