Colombia's President Asks Trump to Suspend Tariffs as Earthquake Death Toll Passes 289

Six days after a magnitude 7.4 earthquake killed at least 289 people in western Colombia, President Abelardo de la Espriella went public Saturday night with a direct ask to his most important ally: suspend the tariffs.

De la Espriella, in office barely a month, posted on X that he'd spoken with President Trump for about 10 minutes. He said Trump offered condolences over the deaths. Then he made his pitch.

He "asked him to consider the temporary suspension of the high tariffs that affect Colombian products, in order to provide relief to our businesspeople, who are facing very difficult times due to the effects of the earthquake," de la Espriella wrote, according to CBS News and confirmed by the Associated Press.

The tariffs in question aren't small. According to CBS News, U.S. duties on Colombian goods jumped from 10% to 12.5% in late July, with limited carve-outs for coffee and oil. Those rates took effect July 24 under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, replacing an earlier round of Section 122 tariffs that had themselves followed the Supreme Court's February ruling striking down Trump's broader IEEPA-based tariff regime as unauthorized by Congress.

De la Espriella didn't mince words about the timing. "I told him that we have a huge challenge ahead: rebuilding Colombia amid the extremely difficult and apocalyptic economic situation that I inherited," he said, according to CBS News.

The White House has not responded to the request. CBS News, PBS, the LA Times and other outlets all note that the Trump administration has been silent on the tariff ask, even as it moves aid dollars.

The U.S. State Department has pledged $26.5 million in emergency assistance, covering food, shelter, health supplies and earthquake assessments, according to the Independent, PBS and the LA Times. That figure has grown since the early response. Fox News reported the initial commitment at $15.5 million just days after the quake struck. The increase reflects the scale of what's on the ground, not a change in policy.

The human toll has also been revised upward repeatedly since the quake hit the morning of August 10. Fox News' early count, citing local mayors, put deaths at 179 across four cities within 48 hours, while the federal government's initial tally was 111. Breitbart, reporting mid-week, cited a government update of 265 dead and 496 missing. By this weekend, the confirmed death toll had climbed to at least 289, according to the AP, PBS, CBS News and the LA Times.

The missing-persons count is genuinely contested. The Colombian government's official figure sits at 143, according to PBS, the Independent and the LA Times. But those same outlets note independent, civilian-run tracking databases put the number in the thousands. Breitbart's mid-week figure, sourced to a government briefing, had already put it at 496. That's a wide range for a government six days into a disaster response. It reflects how hard it is to get a clean count when tens of thousands of buildings are damaged and communication with remote areas like Chocó is still disrupted.

In Cali, Colombia's third-largest city, more than 70 people remain unaccounted for. Cali Mayor Alejandro Eder told reporters at a unified command post, as quoted by the Independent, PBS and the LA Times, "Miracles do happen," even though more than 120 hours had passed since the quake—well beyond the 48-to-72-hour survival window rescue crews typically work against.

De la Espriella was Trump's endorsed candidate in Colombia's tightly fought June 21 runoff, and he's moved fast to align with Washington since taking office. CBS News reports he's joined the "Shield of the Americas," an anti-cartel coalition led by Trump that includes Argentina, Ecuador and El Salvador, and he's pursuing a military alliance with the U.S. and Israel to combat guerrilla groups.

He replaced leftist President Gustavo Petro, whose government clashed repeatedly with the Trump administration. Petro was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department last October and, according to CBS News, was the subject of a federal narcotics investigation reported in March. The contrast between de la Espriella's approach and Petro's is exactly why the new president is calling in a favor now.

Whether that favor gets paid is an open question. The tariffs were imposed under a legal trade authority Trump still controls after the Supreme Court knocked down his IEEPA approach, and the administration has given no indication it's reconsidering the Section 301 rates for Colombia specifically. De la Espriella also announced a state of economic emergency this week, per Breitbart, creating a "Miracle Fund" to channel reconstruction money and proposing utility payment exceptions and rent subsidies for displaced families. That domestic emergency declaration exists whether or not Trump grants tariff relief. The next concrete marker is whether the White House responds at all, and if it does, whether relief comes as a full suspension, a partial carve-out, or nothing.