The flow of goods between Colombia and Ecuador is slowing, according to industrial groups at the South American countries’ border, while high tariffs resulting from an increasingly intense trade dispute came into force this week.
A 100% tariff announced by Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa took effect on Friday, although his government did not specify which products were affected. The Colombian government, led by President Gustavo Petro, formalized on Thursday differentiated tariffs of 35%, 50% and 75% on around 190 Ecuadorian products.
Noboa justified the measures, originally imposed in February at lower levels, due to a trade deficit with Colombia and what he says is the country’s failure to combat drug trafficking along the 586km border. Petro has repeatedly rejected this accusation.
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“Inflated egos”
Colombia’s response was appropriate and is an effort to limit the impact of Ecuadorian tariffs on the Colombian economy, Bogotá’s trade minister said on Thursday.
“It’s a whim, the very inflated egos of the two presidents kept adding to this,” Carlos Bastidas, head of the Heavy Transport Association of Carchi, Ecuador, told Reuters. ‘Goods movement is minimal, but from next week this will drop to zero.’
Typically, up to 150 trucks wait to cross the Rumichaca International Bridge, Bastidas said. On Friday, about five vehicles were there.
‘This is generating unemployment and people have to look for alternatives. There are a lot of passages here, so what are people going to do? Resort to smuggling’, he warned.
Noboa’s press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Ecuador’s government said the initial tariffs created a positive trade balance with Colombia for the first time in history – a combined surplus of US$62.9 million in February and March, versus a deficit of US$146 million in the same two months in 2025.
‘The measure practically closes off exports,’ said Ivan Florez, director of the Ipiales Chamber of Commerce, on the Colombian side of the border. ‘What you see along the border is very different from the view in Quito and Bogotá.’
