“Colombian and Ecuadorian truckers and merchants gathered at a border crossing Tuesday to protest an escalating trade war between both South American countries,” the Associated Press reports. The protesters want their respective governments to eliminate 30 percent tariffs on each other’s exports in the last month. Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, a conservative who has sought close ties with the Trump administration, was the first to impose the tariffs, saying Colombia must do more to combat the trafficking of cocaine into Ecuador.
As James Bosworth wrote in WPR last week, the spat “demonstrates how Trump’s confrontational style is bleeding over into regional relations.” Just as Trump has often had to back down from trade wars he has started to avoid the negative ramifications, Noboa may be getting more than he bargained for. “Noboa counts Ecuador’s business community as part of his political base, putting him on the hook for his rash move,” Bosworth wrote. “By contrast, Petro often has a conflictive relationship with Colombia’s business community, making him less politically exposed.”
Read more:
Related