Colombia’s President Abelardo de la Espriella has asked US President Donald Trump to temporarily suspend tariffs on Colombian goods, citing the devastating economic fallout from a magnitude 7.4 earthquake that killed at least 294 people.
The request came during a ten-minute phone call between the two leaders on Saturday, which de la Espriella described as “very friendly and cordial.” The earthquake struck on August 11, just three days after the conservative lawyer was inaugurated as Colombia’s 36th president, leaving him to manage the worst natural disaster to hit the country in decades.
“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 told reporters after the call. He arrived in office carrying a 6.4 percent fiscal deficit and record public debt of 1,167 trillion pesos.
Scale of Destruction
The death toll as of Sunday stood at 294, with 3,935 people wounded and 320 still missing. More than 14,000 homes were destroyed or damaged across the country. The government estimates reconstruction will cost approximately $6.4 billion.
The earthquake’s epicenter was in Choco, Colombia’s westernmost province and consistently its poorest. Pereira recorded 83 deaths, while Cali, Colombia’s third-largest city, lost 74 people. Search teams were still working through collapsed structures days after the tremor, with Cali Mayor Alejandro Eder describing operations as having entered “the final phase.”
Tariff Relief Request
The United States raised the general tariff on imports from Colombia from 10 percent to 12.5 percent at the end of July, with exemptions for coffee and oil. What falls outside those exemptions includes Colombia’s flower export industry, which is heavily dependent on the US market.
“I asked him to consider temporarily suspending the high tariffs affecting Colombian products, in order to give relief to our businesses,” de la Espriella said on X. The White House issued no statement on the content of the call.
Washington has provided $26.5 million in emergency aid and deployed rescue teams in the immediate aftermath of the quake, a significant humanitarian gesture but a different category of commitment than what de la Espriella is now requesting. Finance Minister Miguel Gomez confirmed the government has ruled out tax increases to fund reconstruction, leaving trade relief and international solidarity as the primary mechanisms.
De la Espriella, who holds dual Colombian and US citizenship and was endorsed by Trump during his campaign, had positioned himself as a Washington ally. The tariff request represents a test of whether that ideological alignment translates into economic accommodation.
Sources: Al Jazeera; AP News; PBS NewsHour; Washington Post; Eastern Herald; MercoPress
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