Colombia's commerce ministry said the new route would take ships across the Pacific from the Colombian port of Buenaventura, via the new Chinese-funded mega-port of Chancay in Peru.

Beijing's ambassador to Bogota, Zhu Jingyang, hailed the announcement on the social network X as "good news" for trade between the Asian giant and Latin America's fourth-biggest economy.

Colombia's Minister of Commerce, Luis Carlos Reyes, described it as "a great step in strengthening relations" between the two nations.

The agreement comes hot on the heels of a blazing row between Trump and Colombia's left-wing President Gustavo Petro over deported migrants.

On January 26, Petro denied entry to two US military planes carrying hundreds of deported Colombians.

A furious Trump responded by imposing tariffs of 25 percent on Colombian products, to which Bogota replied in kind before backing down and sending its own planes to bring home the migrants.

Despite the easing of tensions between Washington and what has traditionally been one of its strongest allies in Latin America, Petro, a leftist ex-guerrilla, has continued to lash out at Trump.

In an interview with Univision television last week, he accused the US leader of defending a "fascist thesis" which seeks to "criminalize" undocumented migrants in the United States and compared it to Adolf Hitler's treatment of Jews during World War II.

At the height of his row with Trump, Petro called for the commerce ministry to explore new export markets, beyond the United States.

His bid to boost ties with China comes during a visit by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Central America, aimed in part at countering growing Chinese influence in the region.

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