‘A weak, scared, whiney, child’: Trump is called out by a former Republican representative over possible trade war

President Donald Trump has threatened tariffs against the United States’ closest trading partners. Now, Trump has issued tariffs on imports from Colombia over a clash with his migration policy.

Trump announced on his social media account that he will be imposing emergency 25% tariffs against imports from Colombia. These tariffs will increase to 50% one week later. This is because President Gustavo Petro of Colombia initially denied two repatriation flights carrying deported Colombians. Gustavo also threatened retaliatory tariffs against Trump through a fiery tweet on X.

Because of this back-and-forth online, U.S. government officials warned Americans about the possibility of a trade war. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wrote on X, “To ‘punish’ Colombia, Trump is about to make every American pay even more for coffee.” She also criticized Trump for lining the pockets of the billionaire class. Meanwhile, former Representative Adam Kizinger accused Trump of nearly starting an avoidable trade war. He said during the Colombia debacle, “Strength would be able to fix this without pouting and throwing a fit. Trump is still a child, a weak, scared, whiny child.”

Despite these criticisms from U.S. officials, the Colombian government agreed to accept the deported migrants. Trump’s strategy prevailed at no cost for now. Trump’s playbook relies on openly weaponizing the country’s economic prosperity against its trading partners. Simply put, Colombia couldn’t afford to lose out on trading with their biggest export country. While this may be effective with some countries with less leverage against the United States, the risk shouldn’t be understated.

After all, not all countries may be as amenable to accepting Trump’s method of mass deportation. These tariffs don’t just threaten to alienate and strain relations with foreign countries. Rather, the countries that choose not to comply with US demands can follow through with retaliatory tariffs or look for alternative markets to sell to. When that happens, Trump wouldn’t be the one to suffer from the fallout.