BOGOTA: Colombia`s president on Tuesday said he intends to sign an accord to join Beijing`s Belt and Road Initiative during an upcoming China trip, a move sure to damage already frayed relations with Washington.

Leftist leader Gustavo Petro said he would sign a `letter of intent` to join the pact when he meets his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping face-to-face in the coming days. The Belt and Road Initiative is a central pillar of Xi`s bid to expand his country`s economic and political clout overseas.

For more than a decade it has provided investment for infrastructure and other large-scale projects around the world, offering Beijing political and economic leverage in return.

Until now Colombia has been one of the United States` closest and most steadfast trade and security partners in Latin America.

But the arrival of Colombia`s first leftist president and the tariff-pocked second term of US President Donald Trump have put the relationship on ice. The two leaders have sparred openly on social media over deportations and traded tit-for-tat tariff threats.

On Jan 26, Petro denied entry to two US military planes carrying hundreds of deported Colombians. A furious Trump responded by imposing tariffs of 25 per cent on Colombian products, to which Bogota replied in kind before backing down and sending its own planes to bring home the migrants.

Petro has since spoken about the need to steer Colombia`s trade towards China, but Tuesday`s announcement is the first major move in that direction.-AFP