Donald Trump hypocritically claims Colombia’s president Gustavo Petro is “unpopular” with his people amid growing tensions over migrants and tariffs.
Since his presidential campaign, Trump has impulsively and recklessly threatened to destroy relations with several U.S. allies. He has threatened to incite trade wars with Canada and Mexico, repeatedly suggested making Canada a U.S. state, and proposed taking Greenland by military force. Recently, he set his sights on Colombia when Petro refused to comply with Trump’s mass deportation plans. On January 26, he refused to allow two U.S. military flights carrying Colombian deportees to land. He threatened not to accept the deportees until the Trump administration established “a protocol of dignified treatment of migrants.” Trump quickly took to Truth Social to escalate the situation while levying some fairly hypocritical insults at Petro.
Donald Trump takes jab at Gustavo Petro’s popularity
After learning of Petro’s refusal to allow the U.S. military planes to land, Trump quickly retaliated. In a fiery Truth Social post, he wrote, “I was just informed that two repatriation flights from the United States, with a large number of Illegal Criminals, were not allowed to land in Colombia. This order was given by Colombia’s Socialist President Gustavo Petro, who is already very unpopular amongst his people.” As one of Colombia’s only left-wing presidents in recent history, he has frequently faced accusations of being a “socialist,” with Trump eagerly jumping on the insult. However, Trump is hardly one to talk about popularity. After all, he lost the popular vote twice and only won it in the 2024 election by an incredibly small margin. Polls have also found that Trump’s popularity and approval levels are historically low for a president.
In addition to the low insults, Trump threatened high tariffs, a U.S. travel ban for Colombian officials, and other sanctions over Petro’s defiance. Initially, Petro stood firm in refusing to accept the deportees. He issued a statement remarking he found the U.S. “boring” and didn’t mind the travel ban. On top of that, he threatened the end of the U.S. and Colombia being allies, as he stated, “I don’t want slave owners on Colombia’s side.” In response to Trump’s threat of tariffs, Petro promised to reciprocate the measure and place a 50% tariff on goods from the U.S.
Although a trade war seemed imminent, Colombia ultimately backed down. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that the country agreed to “all of President Trump’s terms” and would accept all migrants “without limitation or delay.” Colombia’s Foreign Ministry also confirmed the agreement and claimed it would guarantee “dignified conditions” for the Colombians returning as deportees. Still, the incident is a warning sign of the potential negative consequences of Trump’s determination to pick fights with all of America’s allies. He nearly drove America into a trade war with Colombia, which would’ve significantly hurt the U.S. economy and consumers. As Trump alienates U.S. allies, he’s doing so with his agenda at the forefront of his mind rather than the well-being of Americans, raising concerns for America’s plight if any of Trump’s future targets choose not to comply with his demands.
Published: Jan 27, 2025 11:57 am