Ecuador’s president announces 30% tariffs on Colombian imports, citing a lack of cooperation in combating drug cartels along their shared border.
QUITO: Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa has announced 30% tariffs on imports from Colombia, accusing its neighbour of failing to help fight drug cartels.
The move echoes former US President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, which he partly attributed to concerns over drug trafficking.
Noboa, a staunch Trump ally, said the tariffs would take effect on February 1.
Writing on X, the right-wing leader said Ecuador had made “genuine efforts to cooperate with Colombia, even with a trade deficit exceeding $1 billion annually.”
He added that Ecuador’s military “continues to face criminal groups tied to drug trafficking on the border (with Colombia) without any cooperation whatsoever.”
Noboa said the tariffs would remain until Colombia shows a “real commitment to jointly combat drug trafficking and illegal mining on the border.”
In Quito, Interior Minister John Reimberg told reporters Colombian authorities “are not taking the right measures” to prevent drug cultivation and shipment across the border.
Colombia’s left-wing President Gustavo Petro vowed a fuller response to the tariff announcement.
Petro posted on X that “more than 200 tons of cocaine” have been seized on the border with Ecuador.
His defence minister insisted that Bogota and Quito maintained “close and historic cooperation against drug trafficking.”
Ecuador has transformed from one of South America’s safest countries to a major cocaine trafficking hub in recent years.
It closed 2025 with a homicide rate of 52 per 100,000 residents, equating to roughly one murder every hour.
The country’s 600-kilometer border with Colombia is porous and riddled with illegal crossings used for smuggling.
Noboa previously advanced the idea of allowing foreign military bases in Ecuador to combat cartels.
That proposal was overwhelmingly rejected in a national referendum last November.
Following the vote, the United States announced a temporary deployment of Air Force personnel to assist in fighting narcotics smuggling.
