Overview
- Ecuador’s production ministry said the surcharge on Colombian imports will rise from 30% to 50% effective March 1.
- Colombia will reciprocate with a 50% tariff from March 1 and is weighing expanding the list of targeted goods after previously imposing 30% and halting electricity exports to Ecuador.
- President Daniel Noboa accuses Bogotá of neglecting the frontier, estimates Ecuador’s added security costs at about $400 million a year, and claims violence has fallen in three border provinces, while Colombia highlights troop deployments and coca eradication.
- Ecuador raised crude transport fees for Colombian oil by 900%, and the trade fight now threatens roughly $1.9 billion in Colombian exports and dozens of Ecuadorian product lines.
- Ecuador’s ministers issued conflicting signals on whether talks continue as both governments take complaints to the Andean Community and border merchants protest at the Rumichaca crossing.