Colombia’s Foreign Ministry accused Ecuador on Saturday of deliberate interference in Sunday’s presidential elections. The accusation followed an announcement by Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa on the elimination of bilateral tariffs starting June 1.
The statement followed Noboa’s conversation with Colombian presidential candidate Abelardo De La Espriella. Noboa stated on X that the measure responded to the candidate’s willingness to jointly combat narcoterrorism and an agreement on the handover of Ecuadorian criminals in Colombia.
Colombia rejected the presentation of the decision as a gesture of goodwill by Noboa. In its communiqué, the Foreign Ministry maintained that the tariff reversal stems from a resolution by the General Secretariat of the Andean Community and not from political considerations.
President Gustavo Petro attributed the origin of the tariffs to former president Álvaro Uribe Vélez. Petro wrote on X that Uribe raised the tariffs and that the Andean Pact ordered their reversal after the economic damage.
The trade dispute between the two countries intensified since January with reciprocal tariffs of up to 100 percent. Colombia also announced it would withdraw measures adopted to mitigate the effects of Ecuadorian tariffs.
