The United States of America has reclaimed its title as heavyweight diplomatic champion of the Western hemisphere after an impromptu bout on Sunday afternoon. When two U.S. military aircraft arrived to return Colombian nationals who illegally entered the 50 states, socialist Colombian President Gustavo Petro decided the moment was as good as any to challenge the larger, freer power. Petro hoped to embarrass the U.S., only to get “KOed” in the first round.

The incident arose from the Trump administration’s actions to return illegal immigrants with criminal records back to their country of origin, fulfilling a key campaign promise. According to the Pew Research Center, 190,000 illegal immigrants from Colombia were in the U.S. in 2022, although the number likely grew amid the ongoing Biden surge.

On Sunday, two U.S. military planes were returning Colombian immigrants arrested by ICE (a flight of just under four hours from Miami), when Colombia denied the planes entry into the country. President Petro declared that America “can’t treat Colombian migrants like criminals” and insisted that America return Colombians on civilian flights.

This surprised the U.S., an anonymous official told CNN, because Colombian authorities had authorized the flights prior to takeoff. “You can’t go out there and publicly defy us in that way,” the official declared. “We’re going to make sure the world knows they can’t get away with being non-serious and deceptive.”

It’s difficult to overstate how “non-serious” the Colombian ploy really was. Whenever American citizens are arrested in any other country, the U.S. government labors to secure their safe passage home. Yet here Colombia turned away its own citizens when America was returning them on our own dime.

From all appearances, the Colombian president — a former Marxist guerilla — was trying to engineer a small-enough crisis so that he could look tough without provoking U.S. retaliation. Petro needs all the “street cred” he can muster right now as he faces a domestic crisis over his inability to stop rival guerrillas from going to war over control of cocaine production. This week, Petro declared a state of emergency in the northeastern Catatumbo region and deployed the military.

If the current occupant of the Oval Office were as senile as his predecessor, Petro’s gambit would likely have succeeded. But there is a new sheriff in town, who is far more sensitive and diligent about protecting America’s honor. Petro failed to account for this, and as a result he woefully mis-calibrated his artificial crisis.

Within minutes, Trump “responded in a sober and measured fashion” with five punitive policy announcements that are “justly characterizable as ‘the nuclear option’ in the diplomatic realm,” suggested National Review’s Jeffrey Blehar. As he summarized them, Trump announced:

“(1) a 25 percent tariff on all Colombian goods, to be raised to 50 percent after a week;
“(2) a complete travel ban and visa revocation of all Colombian government officials in the United States (tantamount to diplomatic expulsion from the country);
“(3) sanctions on anyone and everyone in the Colombian government, as well as ‘family members and supporters’;
“(4) enhanced border inspections for anything and everything Colombian, whether goods or people;
“(5) international banking sanctions.”

Let’s pause for a moment to relish the fact that the U.S. president is available within minutes on a Sunday afternoon to personally address mid-level snafus related to one of his top policy priorities. No more AWOL Defense secretaries, Transportation secretaries taking paternity leave amid a supply chain crisis, or commanders in chief who need a week of beachfront R&R to recuperate from ordinary state function. Energy is the name of the game at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and it is just what the Founders ordered. “Energy in the Executive is a leading character in the definition of good government,” wrote Publius (Alexander Hamilton) in Federalist No. 70.

“These measures are just the beginning. We will not allow the Colombian Government to violate its legal obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the Criminals they forced into the United States!” Trump warned.

Colombia caved more quickly than the White House kicked out conservative media when a cocaine baggie was found. After briefly considering retaliating with his own tariffs, Petro issued an apologetic statement and agreed to send diplomats to Washington, D.C. for talks.

Having turned away two U.S. military aircraft, Petro agreed to send his own presidential aircraft to repatriate the Colombian detainees. “The Government of Colombia, under the direction of President Gustavo Petro, has arranged the presidential plane to facilitate the dignified return of the compatriots who were going to arrive in the country today in the morning, coming from deportation flights,” stated Petro’s office.

“Rather than preside over the immediate economic ruin of his nation,” Blehar wrote, Petro issued a conciliatory statement “that is justly characterizable as ‘kissing the ring.’”

“The Government of Colombia has agreed to all of President Trump’s terms, including the unrestricted acceptance of all illegal aliens from Colombia returned from the United States, including on U.S. military aircraft, without limitation or delay,” White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt declared in a Sunday statement. “Today’s events make clear to the world that America is respected again. President Trump will continue to fiercely protect our nation’s sovereignty, and he expects all other nations of the world to fully cooperate in accepting the deportation of their citizens illegally present in the United States.”

But the Trump administration did not take any punitive measure off the table. “Based on this agreement,” Leavitt continued, “the fully drafted IEEPA [International Emergency Economic Powers Act] tariffs and sanctions will be held in reserve, and not signed, unless Colombia fails to honor this agreement. The visa sanctions issued by the State Department, and enhanced inspections from Customs and Border Protection, will remain in effect until the first planeload of Colombian deportees is successfully returned.”

And with that lopsided result, the entire diplomatic spat was over, roughly 30 minutes from when Colombia first turned away the migrant planes.

“President Trump has made it clear that under his administration, America will no longer be lied to nor taken advantage of,” declared Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “As demonstrated by today’s actions, we are unwavering in our commitment to end illegal immigration and bolster America’s border security.”

To the extent that America exercises a positive influence around the world (e.g., when it is more concerned about supporting religious freedom than abortion), a president who engages in forceful diplomacy is a good thing. Foreign governments are far quicker to heed America’s wishes if they are convinced that America’s economic — and, if necessary, military — might is there to back it up.

This both incentivizes cooperation and deters hostility abroad, especially in the complex, fraught relations of the Middle East. For instance, last week the Houthis, Iran’s Yemeni proxy, returned hostages and announced they would no longer shoot at American and British vessels in an attempt to pacify Trump.

But it’s not just the Houthis; their Iranian overlords are also frightened of the man who once ordered a drone strike on their top terrorist leader. According to The Telegraph, a British paper, Iran has instructed its militia proxies throughout the Middle East “to maintain defensive positions while avoiding any actions that could be interpreted as aggressive by U.S. forces or regional allies.”

Too often, former President Joe Biden made decisions based on what America’s adversaries might interpret as provocative — which only emboldened them to seize the initiative. Today, the situation is reversed, and America’s adversaries are the ones worried about provoking the U.S. When America projects strength, it promotes stability and freedom throughout the world.