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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, weighed in on President Donald Trump’s ongoing tariff feud with Colombian President Gustavo Petro – but not every social media user bought her comments.
The spat between Trump and Petro began when the Colombian leader refused to accept two deportation flights over the weekend, prompting Trump to unleash retaliatory measures.
Both world leaders threatening to raise tariffs on imported products by 25% to 50%, and Trump ordered a travel ban and visa revocations for all Colombian government officials.
“I was just informed that two repatriation flights from the United States, with a large number of Illegal Criminals, were not allowed to land in Colombia,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“This order was given by Colombia’s Socialist President Gustavo Petro, who is already very unpopular amongst his people.”
“Petro’s denial of these flights has jeopardized the National Security and Public Safety of the United States, so I have directed my Administration to immediately take the following urgent and decisive retaliatory measures.”
In an X post on Sunday, Ocasio-Cortez insisted that American consumers are the only party that pay tariffs.
“To ‘punish’ Colombia, Trump is about to make every American pay even more for coffee,” the New York congresswoman said in a post. “Remember: WE pay the tariffs, not Colombia.”
“Trump is all about making inflation WORSE for working class Americans, not better,” she added. “He’s lining the pockets of himself and the billionaire class.”
Petro appeared to be a fan of AOC’s post, reposting it on his own X account.
While tariffs do have the potential to inflate prices, the importer, which is the company or entity bringing the goods into the US, will pay the actual tariff to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
But inflated prices are not guaranteed – sometimes, tariffs can reduce the world price of an object as suppliers rush to retain access to the large US market.
It is possible that coffee suppliers in different countries, such as Vietnam and Brazil – which produce more coffee than Colombia – would lower or maintain their prices.
Ocasio-Cortez’s tweet racked up over 47,000 likes from supporters as of 8 p.m., but received scorn from Trump supporters and tariff advocates.
“World record. 35 minutes and the tweet already aged like hot milk,” the social media account Catturd wrote, referencing Petro’s immediate offer to transport Colombian migrants on his presidential plane.
“Who wants to tell her that there are other countries that export coffee, not just Columbia,” California State Assembly Bill Essayli wrote.
Conservative commentator John Cardillo echoed Essayli’s sentiment, suggesting that the South American country “should take their illegal aliens back.”
“Plenty of other nations grow coffee beans,” Cardillo wrote on X. “We can buy the coffee from them.”
Activist Adam Lowisz responded to Ocasio-Cortez by insisting that the Democratic politician “doesn’t understand how tariffs work.”
“Coffee from Colombia will increase in price, so we will purchase coffee from suppliers in other countries who do take back their illegals,” the conservative X user wrote.
“Businesses will hesitate to invest in Colombia any further if they continue to be bad actors.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Ocasio-Cortez’s office for additional comment.
