The president of Colombia, Abelardo de la Espriella, has assured that the United States Government has “every disposition” to accede to his request to temporarily suspend the tariffs imposed on his country, after a telephone conversation he had this Tuesday with the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio.
“I reiterated my request for the tariffs that affect Colombian products to be temporarily suspended. A procedure must be completed to achieve this and there is every willingness on the part of the United States Government to advance that purpose,” he said on social networks, where he described the dialogue with Rubio as “very fruitful.”
Colombia’s Minister of Commerce, Mauricio Gómez, plans to travel to Washington this Tuesday to “personally take charge of this issue” by order of the president.
De la Espriella has also conveyed “all the support” provided by the Trump Administration after the 7.4 earthquake registered in central and western Colombia on August 10 and which has left more than 300 dead so far: “economic aid, humanitarian assistance and teams of rescuers.”
“I also reaffirmed our determination to strengthen the historic and transcendental alliance between Colombia and the United States. Today, more than ever, Colombia and the United States must be united,” he stressed.
The call has been confirmed by the spokesman for the US diplomatic portfolio, Tommy Pigott, although he has not made any mention of the issue of taxes imposed on Colombia, which reaches 12.5%.
On the other hand, it does refer to the amount of 26.5 million dollars (almost 23 million euros) contributed by Washington for “emergency humanitarian assistance”, as well as the deployment of search and rescue teams and the C-130 aircraft provided to “contribute to the recovery” of the Latin American country.
Days ago, De la Espriella asked his American counterpart, Donald Trump, to “temporarily” suspend taxes on exports “in order to relieve businessmen” who have suffered the ravages of the earthquake.