BOGOTA/QUITO, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Colombia will suspend electricity sales to Ecuador and impose a 30% tariff on 20 products from its neighbor, it said on Thursday, in an escalating dispute over trade and the fight against drug trafficking.
The move came a day after Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa said his government would impose a 30% "security charge" on goods from Colombia, starting on February 1, citing a trade deficit and a lack of cooperation on fighting drug trafficking.
Colombia, which has repeatedly denied accusations it is not doing enough to tackle drug smuggling, is an important exporter of power to its South American neighbor. Noboa's government later said the measure included exceptions for the sale of electricity and oil logistics services.
In response to Bogota's tariff announcement on Thursday, Ecuador's energy minister said Colombian crude being transported on the OCP pipeline - Ecuador's second-largest - would have "the reciprocity given in the case of electricity". She gave no further details on what that would mean in practice.
Ecuador's trade deficit with Colombia totaled $838 million in the first 10 months of last year, according to Ecuador's central bank.
Colombia shipped $1.67 billion worth of goods to its neighbor in the first 11 months of last year, according to statistics agency DANE, representing 3.6% of total exports.
COLOMBIA DENIES FAILING TO TACKLE TRAFFICKING
"The collaboration with the armed forces of Ecuador is tight," Colombian President Gustavo Petro wrote on X Wednesday, adding that Colombia had seized 200 metric tons of cocaine on the two countries' shared border.
"I hope Ecuador has been grateful, when they have needed us, that we have acted energeticallyin solidarity."
His government was willing to expand joint efforts with Ecuador to fight fentanyl trafficking, he said.
Posting on X overnight, Colombia's commerce and industry ministry said the 30% tariff was "proportional, transitory and revisable" and is meant to restore balance in trade relations following Ecuador's "security charge" decision. It added that Colombia remained open to dialogue.
In its announcement, it did not say what products were covered under the tariff. Colombia's leading imports from Ecuador are fish, vegetable oil and auto parts.
Colombia's energy ministry later said it had issued a resolution suspending "international transactions of electricity with Ecuador".
It did not link the decision to Ecuador's trade measures, instead calling it "a preventative measure to guarantee internal supply in the face of climate variability."
"When adequate technical, energy and commercial conditions exist, exports will be reactivated," the ministry added.
Colombia Energy Minister Edwin Palma had previously criticized Ecuador's actions and on Wednesday cancelled a recent initiative to allow private firms to take part in energy sales between the countries.
FIGHTING CRIME, A CORNERSTONE OF NOBOA'S ADMINISTRATION
Noboa, a close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, has made the fight against criminal gangs a cornerstone of his administration, aligning Ecuador with one of the White House's main policy priorities in South America.
He has declared several states of emergency and recently mobilized over 10,000 soldiers to tackle organized crime. The government has said turf wars between splintered gangs caused murder ratesto soar 30% last year.
Trump has, meanwhile, pressured Colombia, as well as Mexico, over drug trafficking, both before and after U.S. forces captured Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, whom the White House called a "narco-dictator", earlier this month.
Accused of failing to stop the flow of cocaine to the U.S., which he denied, Colombia's Petro was sanctioned by the U.S. last year. But tensions eased in January, following a cordial phone call between Petro and Trump.
(Reporting by Julia Symmes Cobb and Alexandra Valencia; Editing by Joe Bavier)
