Ecuador Ignites Trade Spat with Colombia over Border Crime

On 21 January, Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa announced he was imposing a “security fee” tariff of 30 per cent on all Colombian products entering the country beginning 1 February. Noboa said Bogotá had shown a “lack of reciprocity and firm action” in combating drug trafficking along the two countries’ nearly 600km border, where organised crime has long been active. Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who denied his counterpart’s accusations, promised to apply a reciprocal 30 per cent tariff on Ecuadorian goods also starting in February. His government temporarily suspended exports of electricity, which account for about 8 per cent of Ecuador’s energy needs. The tit-for-tat deepened, with Quito threatening further tariffs on the roughly 7,000 barrels of Colombian oil per day that transit through its pipeline.

Noboa’s decision to heap blame on Colombia comes as Ecuador faces the worst spate of violence in its history. 2025 was its most lethal year on record, with more than 9,000 homicides. Quito has chosen a heavy-handed security approach, declaring an internal armed conflict two years ago and deploying the military to crack down on criminal groups.

But results have not matched expectations, and the border region remains particularly troubled. Armed organisations from both sides of the frontier collaborate in drug trafficking, illegal mining and contraband rackets. Colombian criminal groups sell cocaine and unrefined coca paste to Ecuadorian outfits, who move chemical precursors used to process cocaine in the opposite direction. Security forces on both sides struggle to rein in illegal business.

Noboa, one of Washington’s closest allies in Latin America, announced the measure from Davos while attending the World Economic Forum. His decision to use President Donald Trump’s favoured coercive tool against Petro, who has been criticised by U.S. officials for not taking decisive action against drug trafficking, was ridiculed by Ecuadorian critics as a slavish imitation of White House policy.

This is not the first time the border has strained relations between Ecuador and Colombia. But the latest tariff spat marks a major deterioration in ties between the neighbouring countries, especially since bilateral cooperation had recently seemed to improve. In December 2025, Petro and Noboa met in the Galápagos and agreed to strengthen border security cooperation by forming a joint working group. The countries’ armed forces carry out joint seizures, share information, and coordinate locally, particularly in the Amazon region.

While intended to look tough on crime, Noboa’s trade war with Colombia is unlikely to help either country battle the growth of illegal armed groups along their shared border and may end up hurting communities that depend on bilateral commerce. Criminal organisations engaged in smuggling – who will not pay tariffs – stand to benefit. Colombia’s foreign ministry initially proposed a meeting on 25 January to find an off-ramp, but Ecuador proposed meeting later instead. An official date for the meeting has not yet been established. Yet it remains in both countries’ interests to prevent any escalation that could further damage bilateral economic and security ties.