Ecuador Scraps Its 100% Tariff on Colombian Goods, Ending a Trade War

ECUADOR · TRADE

After four months that froze billions of dollars in cross-border commerce and pulled two Andean neighbours into their worst dispute in years, Ecuador has removed the tariff wall it built against Colombia — though the political bad blood behind it is far from settled.

Ecuador drops the tariff on Colombian goods to zero

Ecuador’s National Customs Service issued a resolution on May 31 setting the service charge on goods originating in or coming from Colombia at 0% from June 1, with the finance ministry’s favourable opinion. The director of the customs agency, Sandro Castillo, framed the move as the opening of “a new stage of cooperation in security, trade and development between the two countries.” President Daniel Noboa had previewed the decision on May 29.

The reversal closes one of South America’s most damaging recent trade disputes. The charge, which Noboa first announced from Davos in January and formally imposed in February, had climbed in stages — 30%, then 50%, then a 100% rate that took effect on May 1 and lasted only days before the climbdown was set in motion.

How the trade war unfolded

Noboa justified the original “security tariff” by arguing that Colombia was not doing enough to curb narcotics trafficking and illegal mining along the 586-kilometre shared border. Colombia, under President Gustavo Petro, retaliated with matching duties on dozens of Ecuadorian product categories, suspended private electricity exports — on which Ecuador had relied for part of its supply — and took the matter to the Andean Community’s courts. At the height of the dispute, Ecuador also raised pipeline transit fees for Colombian crude, and both governments recalled ambassadors.

The economic damage was concentrated and measurable. Colombian exports to Ecuador fell 36.6% in the first quarter of 2026, according to the national statistics agency, with chemicals — the largest export line at $484.1m in 2025 — among the hardest hit. The two economies trade close to $2.7bn a year. In 2025, Colombia shipped $1.85bn to Ecuador and imported $830m, for a surplus of just over $1.0bn, meaning Bogotá had the most to lose from a prolonged rupture.

Why Quito says it acted

Noboa attributed the removal to an understanding reached with Abelardo de la Espriella, the right-wing candidate who led Colombia’s May 31 first-round presidential vote and advances to a June 21 runoff against Iván Cepeda. The Ecuadorian president said he had confirmed the candidate’s willingness to pursue what he called a joint fight against “narcoterrorism,” and on that basis lifted the charge. Ecuador’s production minister, Luis Alberto Jaramillo, added that Quito would keep defending its position before the Andean Community and was awaiting Colombia’s reciprocal removal of duties.

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Why Bogotá disputes that account

Colombia’s foreign ministry rejected the idea that the decision stemmed from any electoral understanding, calling it a deliberate interference in the country’s vote. Bogotá said the change responded to “international commitments previously assumed” and warned that framing it around an election “blurs its legal and institutional basis.” Business groups on both sides welcomed the substance of the move while urging full normalisation: the Colombian foreign-trade association Analdex noted that Ecuador was the second-largest market for Colombia’s non-mining, non-energy exports in 2025, at around $1.67bn, and called on Bogotá to lift its own duties so that “thousands of companies” could resume normal trade.

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