With Donald Trump back in the White House, leaders across the world are sitting up. They will have to get used to something very new: an America unembarrassed about putting its own national interests first, and specifically in making the security of its borders one of the central aims of its foreign policy.

The South American nation of Colombia received an early preview of how President Trump will project US power. After initially refusing to accept US military planes carrying Colombian illegal migrants, Trump threatened a wave of tariffs and visa restrictions on the country’s political leadership unless it agreed to accept back its own citizens. Within hours on Sunday, Colombia had complied with Washington’s demands.

This was one of the most swiftly resolved diplomatic stand-offs involving the United States in decades, and a stunning early success for the Trump White House. It sent a clear message that Donald Trump is putting America first on the world stage and is willing to stand up for and defend American interests with strength and resolve.

While Joe Biden would have spent months, even years, negotiating the return of any illegal aliens to their country of origin, Trump only needed a couple of hours to repatriate people who had no business being in the United States.