By Carlos Vargas and Alexandra Valencia
BOGOTA/QUITO, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Colombia’s commerce minister Diana Marcela Morales said on Friday she will propose the government raise tariffs on certain Ecuadorean goods from a current 30% to 50%, as a trade war between the neighbors escalates.
Ecuador said on Thursday it will increase tariffs on Colombian imports to 50% beginning March 1, citing a lack of cooperation in combating drug trafficking along their shared border, which Colombia denies.
“We are going to present the proposal not only to raise tariffs on the 73 tariff subheadings, but also to consider other products that could generate some degree of sensitivity due to the measures Ecuador has taken today,” Morales told Blu Radio in an interview, saying the move must be approved by a government committee. “It would be 50% for the 73 subheadings that currently have a 30% rate.”
Meanwhile, Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa doubled down on his assertion that Colombia has failed to cooperate on security on the countries’ border, a hub for trafficking of cocaine and other contraband.
“This surcharge is the result of an absolute lack of oversight at the border on Colombia’s part; even the army has been withdrawn several hundred kilometers away, which doubles our cost of protecting our border, to nearly an additional $400 million a year,” he told Radio Centro de Quito, adding Ecuador has already raised $13 million through the tariff, which first was announced in January, and that violence in the area had fallen.
Ecuador has a trade deficit of $1.1 billion with Colombia, he added.
Shortly after the first tariffs, Ecuador increased its fee on Colombian crude transported through its SOTE pipeline by 900% to $30 per barrel, prompting Colombia to halt shipments.
(Reporting by Carlos Vargas in Bogota and Alexandra Valencia in Quito, writing by Julia Symmes Cobb)
