# Colombia president asks Trump to suspend tariffs after quake 2026-08-16T00:40:35+00:00 | World & Diplomacy | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 2 independent outlets Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella has asked US President Donald Trump to temporarily suspend tariffs on Colombian goods as the country struggles to recover from a devastating earthquake. De la Espriella said he made the request during a 10-minute phone call, describing the conversation as friendly and cordial. The tariffs, which rose from 10 per cent to 12.5 per cent in late July, exempt coffee and oil. The 7.4-magnitude earthquake on August 10 devastated the western cities of Cali and Pereira, killing nearly 300 people and destroying close to 13,000 homes. Trump expressed condolences and offered US aid. De la Espriella, a right-wing millionaire lawyer who succeeded leftist Gustavo Petro, has aligned Colombia with Trump's anti-cartel Shield of the Americas alliance. He plans to seek a military pact with the US and Israel to bolster his war on guerrillas. ## Coverage - timesnownews.com - newindianexpress.com This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above. Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources. Last updated 2026-08-16T03:28:10+00:00. Tags: Abelardo De La Espriella, Colombia, Donald Trump, earthquake, United States Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/colombia-asks-trump-for-tariff-relief-after-deadly-earthquake/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/colombia-asks-trump-for-tariff-relief-after-deadly-earthquake/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/