U.S. tariffs imposed by Trump administration in April violated the free trade agreement.
On Monday, Colombian President Gustavo Petro pointed out that the Colombia-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) has been suspended since April, when U.S. President Donald Trump imposed “unjustified protectionist measures” against his country.
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“The FTA is de facto suspended and by unilateral decision of the U.S. government. By imposing a 10% tariff, the FTA has already been violated, and the former tariff preferences that kept Colombia under U.S. control have become null and void,” the Colombian leader said.
The United States is Colombia’s main trading partner. Both countries have maintained an FTA since May 2012. In 2024, bilateral trade in goods and services totaled US$53.3 billion, consisting of US$28.3 billion in U.S. exports and US$25 billion in imports from Colombia. That year, the United States posted a trade surplus of US$3.3 billion, according to data from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
Responding to comments by former President Ivan Duque (2018–2022) about the possibility that the new crisis with Washington could affect the FTA, Petro said that trade preferences “have been unilaterally broken by the United States” since April, when Colombia—along with most Latin American countries—was added to the list of nations subject to a 10% tariff, the lowest on the U.S. schedule.
“I will respond intelligently. We have maintained the clauses of the FTA that survive because we have chosen to, but the Ministry of Trade has decrees that I have not yet signed, reflecting Colombia’s position in defense of national labor and humanity’s survival,” he added.
“Today I will review the measures we will take with the foreign minister, the vice president, our ambassador to the United States, the ministers of Trade and Agriculture, the official in charge of the illicit crop substitution program, and the defense minister. Colombia will craft an intelligent response to this irrational threat,” Petro said.
