All told, it took less than nine hours for Colombia’s president to move from dismissing Donald Trump as a “white enslaver” to offering him the services of his private plane.

On Sunday afternoon, Gustavo Petro refused to accept two scheduled deportation flights from the US, citing a lack of “dignity” in the process.

Initially, he appeared to bank on Mr Trump abiding by the kind of diplomatic norms that would typically apply between the US and one of its key allies in Latin America.

“I do not shake the hands of white enslavers,” Mr Petro frothed. 

But Mr Trump’s reply prompted a gymnastic volte-face: should Mr Petro not relent, the president warned, the US would impose a 25 per cent tariff on all Colombian imports, rising to 50 per cent after a week.