The government of Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa has increased its tariffs on neighboring Colombia to 100 percent effective May 1.
On Thursday, Ecuador’s production ministry issued a statement criticizing Colombia for failing to adequately address drug trafficking and border security.
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It was the latest attack in an ongoing cross-border dispute between right-wing Noboa and his leftist counterpart in Colombia, Gustavo Petro, who have been feuding for months.
“Having observed the lack of implementation of concrete and effective measures regarding border security on the part of Colombia, Ecuador is obliged to take sovereign action,” the production ministry wrote in its letter. statement.
It justified the tariff increase as a necessary incentive to “combat the presence of drug trafficking at the border”.
“For Ecuador, security, as well as the fight against corruption and drug trafficking, is a non-negotiable priority,” the ministry said. “This measure reaffirms the country’s commitment to protecting the security of its citizens and the integrity of its territory.”
Already, Noboa had imposed a 50 percent tariff on Colombia’s exports to Ecuador until March. This, in turn, was an increase from the 30 percent tariff rate announced in January and implemented in February.
Just an hour after the new tariff rate was announced, Petro responded on social media that Ecuador’s actions were leading to the collapse of the Andean Pact, a regional free trade agreement that originated in the 1960s.
“It’s simply a monstrosity, but it marks the end of the Andean treaty for Colombia. We have no business there anymore,” Petro wrote.
He called on Colombia to shift its focus from Andean trading partners to Mercosur, a trade alliance run by Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina and Bolivia.
“The foreign minister should begin the process for us to become a full member of Mercosur and lead us to the Caribbean and Central America with more enthusiasm,” Petrou said.
Rising tensions between Ecuador and Colombia came to a head in the final months of Petro’s presidency. Elected in 2022, Petro is Colombia’s first leftist president and a former rebel involved in the country’s six-decade-long armed conflict.
But his government has faced strong opposition from right-wing political movements both domestically and abroad.
Leaders such as Noboa and United States President Donald Trump have repeatedly criticized Petro for not doing enough to combat the illicit drug trade, despite historic drug seizures during his tenure.
Just last November, Petro’s government seized a shipment of cocaine worth approximately $388 million, the largest drug bust in a decade.
But Petro has also supported a policy he calls “total peace”, which includes negotiations with rebel groups and criminal networks to end the country’s internal conflict.
Trump and Petro have been at odds over a number of issues, including US immigration policies and boat-bombing campaigns in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean.
However, in September, the Trump administration took the extraordinary step of declassifying Colombia as an ally in the “war on drugs”, saying it had “clearly failedIn your efforts.
Then, in October, Trump imposed sanctions on Petro and his family, and accused the Colombian president of “allowing drug cartels to flourish.”
Noboa has echoed Trump’s stances on a number of foreign policy issues, including a pressure campaign on Cuba, another leftist government.
He was one of the right-wing leaders to join Trump’s “Shield of the Americas” coalition in Latin America, designed to confront criminal networks and cartels in the region.
Initially announcing the tariffs in January, Noboa claimed that his country had shown a “real commitment” to combating drug trafficking, while Colombia had not.
“We have made genuine efforts to cooperate with Colombia, even while facing a trade deficit of more than $1 billion annually,” Noboa wrote.
Colombia remains the largest producer of cocaine in the world, a trend that existed before Petro became president.
But other factors have increased tensions between the two neighbours.
For example, on Wednesday, Ecuador recalled its ambassador to Colombia over statements made by Petro regarding the imprisonment of leftist politician Jorge Glas, calling the former vice president a “political prisoner.”
Noboa had warned earlier in the week that he considered such rhetoric an “attack on (Ecuador’s) sovereignty”. He previously faced criticism for authorizing a raid on the Mexican embassy to arrest Glass, which forced Mexico to sever ties with Ecuador.
Meanwhile, Petro has accused Noboa of carrying out bombings near the Colombian border as part of a joint military operation with the US. Colombian authorities said they recovered 27 charred bodies in the border area.
Since Ecuador first imposed its tariffs, Colombia has suspended cross-border energy sales, which have been crucial in helping Ecuador’s government deal with power shortages resulting from recent drought. It has also issued retaliatory tariffs on some Ecuadorian products.
