Ecuador will impose a 30% tariff on goods from Colombia, a major electricity provider, starting on February 1, President Daniel Noboa said on Wednesday, pointing to a trade deficit and lack of cooperation on fighting drug trafficking at their shared border.
"This measure will remain in place until there is a real commitment to jointly tackle drug trafficking and illegal mining on the border, with the same seriousness and determination that Ecuador is currently demonstrating," Noboa said on X
Colombian Energy Minister Edwin Palma blasted the tariffs as "economic aggression' in a social media post, saying he had ordered the dismantling of a recent initiative to allow private firma to take part in energy sales between both countries to limit potential scarcity
"Colombia has acted with facts, cooperation, and solidarity," he said, noting Colombia provides 8% to 10% of Ecuador's power consumption. That is why dialogue between nations is essential, not unilateral measures that only harm our peoples, he added.
Colombia's president's office, trade and foreign ministries told Reuters they were examining the measure. Shortly after Noboa's announcement, Colombia's defense ministry said it had seized a shipment of marijuana at the shared border during a joint operation between both countries militaries.
Speaking at Davos on Tuesday, Noboa said his nation was fighting a complete war against evil and narco-terrorism."
Noboa said Ecuador had not received "any cooperation and cited an annual trade deficit exceeding $1 billion. The deficit in the first 10 months of last year totaled $838 million, according to Ecuador's central bank
Colombia shipped $1.67 billion worth of exports to Ecuador in the first 11 months of last year, according to statistics agency DANE, representing 3.6% of total shipments. The U.S. was Colombia's largest export destination, making up 29.6%.
This was slightly above the 26.4% of total exports Colombia shipped to member states of ALADI, a regional bloc that brings together much of Latin America.
Ecuador imports electrical power from Colombia, which is crucial in times of drought when hydroelectric dams dry up, as well as medicines and pesticides.
The announcement of tariffs against Ecuador's larger neighbor follows a 27% tariff on Imports from Mexico, Latin America's No. 2 economy, in February, shortly after the U.S. announced its own tariffs against Mexico.
Relations between Ecuador and Mexico soured over the latter's asylum for former Vice President Jorge Glas at its embassy in Quito, which Ecuador stormed in 2024, arresting Glas and handing him another lengthy prison sentence on corruption charges.
On Tuesday, Colombian President Gustavo Petro on X shared an image of Glas, who also has Colombian nationality, apparently taken from a video call from prison, saying he showed signs of psychological torture and should be freed.
Glas' lawyers maintain his innocence and say his physical health has seriously deteriorated and that he has been denied access to medicine and sunlight.
Posted by John3262005
2 Comments
An new turn to the relations of Colombia and Ecuador
Taking a page from Trump, tariffs on Colombian goods, for example $1.67 billion worth of good (or 3.6% of total shipments) and imported electricity too
However, this is not surprising, given Ecuador put a tariff on Mexican goods last year.
Ecuador seems to have bad timing in political swings. It was very left with Correa back when its neighbors were getting FTAs with the US (though it does have one with China that I think Colombia missed out on) so it missed out on that boat and now it’s very right in the Trump era where you raise tariffs to the moon.
That said its biggest trade partner is actually still the US for both imports and exports by a fair margin (followed by China of course). The trade with Colombia and Mexico are comparatively puny so maybe Noboa is gambling that by lining up with Trump and dumping on left wing governments that criticized him recently on Venezuela he can get some good boy points that could help him deepen the existing trading relationship.