The recent conflict between the U.S. and Colombia could have been bad for America’s farmers and ranchers if it had gone on indefinitely. Military jets carrying many people deported from America weren’t allowed to land. President Donald Trump said if they weren’t allowed to land, the U.S. would immediately impose tariffs on Colombian goods coming into America. Chad Hart, an extension agronomist at Iowa State University, says this may not be the last time President Trump threatens to impose tariffs on a trading partner over a conflict.

“He sees this as an economic weapon or tool, depending on how you want to look at it, to get the U.S. point across. At the same time,  you can see the markets are fearful of what can happen there with the retaliatory tariffs. You see a lot of volatility building up in the marketplace because they recognize just how quickly the tariff pattern can change, not only from a U.S. perspective but in the case of how quickly the retaliation might come back.”

If the back-and-forth had continued between the U.S. and Colombia, it would not have been good for U.S. agriculture as Colombia is the third-largest importer of U.S. corn.

“Yes, they are. In fact, when I look at just so far this marketing year, you look at the export sales up to last week, they’re up nearly another 40 percent, so they have been an incredible growth market for U.S. corn over the last couple of years, especially. A lot of this is built off the idea that the U.S. and Colombia signed a free trade agreement back about, I think, 12 years ago, and ever since then, we’ve been seeing Colombia sort of move up the rankings for us in terms of them becoming a more important trade partner with every year that passes.”

What does the dispute tell him about trade moving forward?

“It tells me that trade is being weaponized, for lack of a better term, the idea of that it seems like we’re going to see tariffs being utilized as that negotiating tool for all sorts of possible international disagreements here. You know, in this case, this was a disagreement about immigration and deportation, and it wasn’t just about the policies themselves, but just how do we move people? And yet, tariffs got caught up in the mix very quickly. So, tariffs seem to be the preferred tool that President Trump wants to reinforce his point to other international leaders.”