Colombia asks Washington to suspend 12.5% tariffs over the earthquake emergency

Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella on Saturday asked his US counterpart, Donald Trump, to temporarily suspend tariffs on Colombian goods, arguing this would give exporters relief as the country faces the economic consequences of Monday's magnitude 7.4 earthquake.

The Colombian leader reported the request on his X account, following a telephone conversation he described as “friendly” and lasting ten minutes. “I asked him to consider temporarily suspending the high tariffs affecting Colombian products, in order to give relief to our businesses, which are going through very difficult times because of the effects of the earthquake,” he wrote. The White House issued no statement on the content of the call. The United States raised the general tariff on imports from Colombia from 10% to 12.5% at the end of July, with exceptions including coffee and oil. Among the sectors affected is flower growing, one of Colombia's leading exports to the US market. De la Espriella thanked Trump for 26.5 million dollars in economic assistance and for the deployment of rescue teams. Washington had initially announced 15.5 million dollars in aid and activated a disaster response team on the day of the earthquake. According to the Colombian president's account, ...