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Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella has asked President Donald Trump to temporarily lift US tariffs on Colombian goods while the country digs out from a 7.4-magnitude earthquake that killed close to 300 people.

Getting into it: President de la Espriella put the request out on X Saturday night, following a roughly 10-minute phone call with Trump. He said he thanked Trump for the American aid sent after the quake and asked him “to consider the temporary suspension of the high tariffs that affect Colombian products, in order to provide relief to our businesspeople, who are facing very difficult times due to the effects of the earthquake.”

He called the conversation “very friendly and cordial” and said he told Trump what he is up against. “I told him that we have a huge challenge ahead: rebuilding Colombia amid the extremely difficult and apocalyptic economic situation that I inherited,” he said. As of now, the White House has not publicly answered the request, and the State Department says the US has committed $26.5 million in aid so far, in food, shelter, and health supplies.

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The quake, which hit last Monday, killed at least 289 people and left 3,937 injured and 143 missing. It destroyed 14,705 homes and damaged another 81,536 structures. De la Espriella said Monday that preliminary economic losses run to about 30 trillion pesos, or $9.58 billion, with roughly 24.5 trillion pesos in building damage and 5.5 trillion in infrastructure.

This all comes as Colombia has faced a 12.5% US tariff rate since July 24, up from 10%, part of a round that hit roughly 60 countries the administration says have not done enough to stop forced labor.

The US is Colombia’s biggest export market, and the tariffs have already cut into that trade.

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