Less than a week after assuming his presidency, Mr Donald Trump he was briefly involved in his first international dispute with the “weapon” of tariffs. And the target was not China, Mexico or Canada – usually targets of his wrath – but the Colombiaone of their closest allies USA in South America.

Colombia’s offense was that it refused to allow two US flights carrying deportees immigrants to land because they were military and not civilian transport aircraft. This was enough to prompt Trump to threaten high tariffs, as the BBC notes in its analysis.

“We will not allow the Colombian government to violate its legal obligations to admit and return criminals who were forced to enter the U.S.”Trump wrote on his social media site.

In addition to the 25% tariffs he has threatened to impose, Trump has warned that the US will impose a travel ban and “immediate visa revocation” on Colombian government officials, as well as its allies and supporters.

But the White House later said Colombia had “bent” and agreed to accept migrants arriving on US military aircraft “without restriction or delay”. Because of this agreement, the US will not ultimately proceed with the tariffs.

For his first week in office, the US president appeared to prioritize action on immigration over trade measures – even if the latter was a key campaign promise. Trump appears ready to punish countries he deems not sufficiently supportive of America’s tough new immigration policy.

The Colombia incident is a warning to US allies and adversaries: If you do not cooperate with the US, the consequences will be severe.

Colombia retreated from a tariff war, but the tactic is a test for the new Trump administration.

If future sanctions lead to higher prices for American consumers, will the American public react? Will he be willing to tolerate some economic pain caused by Trump’s immigration priorities?

The US imports about 27% of its coffee from Colombia, according to the US Department of Agriculture, as well as other products such as bananas, oil, avocados and flowers. Coffee imports alone have a value of almost 2 billion. dollars.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro had initially responded by saying that his country would accept returning citizens on “civil planes, without treating them like criminals”.

It’s no secret that Petro doesn’t like Donald Trump – he’s strongly criticized his policies on immigration and the environment in the past.

In a lengthy response to X, he said Trump would “exterminate the human species out of greed” and accused the US president of considering Colombians an “inferior race”. Petro went on to describe himself as “stubborn” and stated that while Trump could try to “stage a coup” with “financial power and arrogance,” he would, in short, fight back. He also said: “From today, Colombia is open to the whole world, with open arms.”

This is something that should worry a US president who wants to tackle immigration. Officials in his incoming administration have made clear that mission will require him to look beyond the Mexican border.

Tens of thousands of migrants each year from around the world, from India to China, head north to the US after landing in South America and traveling through Colombia via the Darien Gap – a key point just north of the Panama-Colombia border. It is a dangerous journey where criminal gangs operate.

In his response to Trump’s actions, President Petro noted that if talks on managing immigration through the Darien are suspended, “illegal activities will increase.” These statements could be seen as a veiled threat to more illegal immigrants without.

Petro was later quick to say that his country would not refuse to deport Colombian nationals from the US – as long as they were “treated with dignity”.

Even after Colombia acted to defuse the dispute, it said dialogue would be maintained to “guarantee the dignity of our citizens.”

But these kinds of tariffs are a test — and could be applied against other countries that don’t agree to U.S. demands. From the looks of it, this is just Trump’s first move.