Colombia asks Trump to suspend tariffs as country reels from earthquake

Colombia’s new president has called on United States President Donald Trump to suspend tariffs targeting the South American country, which is reeling from a deadly earthquake that has killed hundreds.

President Abelardo de la Espriella said Saturday that he had requested the US “temporarily suspend” tariffs on Colombia to give “relief” to business owners.

On Monday, a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck Colombia, killing at least 294 people and damaging or destroying tens of thousands of buildings across the country, according to Colombia’s National Unit for Disaster Risk Management.

US tariffs on Colombian products rose from 10 percent to 12.5 percent in late July, with a few exceptions including coffee and oil. The US is Colombia’s top export market.

The Colombian leader described his 10-minute conversation with President Trump as “very friendly and cordial”.

“I told him that we have a huge challenge ahead: rebuilding Colombia amid the extremely difficult and apocalyptic economic situation that I inherited,” de la Espriella said.

Colombia’s Finance Minister Miguel Gomez said the government was not yet considering raising taxes to find the approximately $6.4bn needed for reconstruction, local media have reported.

Shortly after a legal defeat on “Liberation Day” tariffs, the White House announced renewed tariffs targeting nearly every US trading partner, including Colombia, based on what it said were failures to uphold anti-forced labour measures.

Trump endorsed the right-wing de la Espriella, a millionaire lawyer-turned-politician, during his run for the presidency that culminated in a close victory over leftist Ivan Cepeda in June.

Since taking office in early August, de la Espriella has joined the so-called “Shield of the Americas”, an anti-cartel alliance headed by Trump and involving multiple South American nations.

The new Colombian president has also said he plans to forge a military alliance with the US and Israel to help bolster the country’s long-running conflict with armed groups.