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After a year of insults, threats, tariffs and sanctions, the leaders of the United States and Colombia will meet in Washington on Tuesday, apparently to resolve a bitter feud between the two countries.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro accepted an invitation from President Donald Trump last month after a cordial phone conversation that dramatically reversed the war of words.
The meeting comes at a critical time for Petro. An unprecedented US military operation in neighboring Venezuela aims to prove to Washington that it has effective control over drug trafficking after the US detained the country’s President Nicolás Maduro on cartel-related charges. Petro also aims to overturn U.S. sanctions against him.
The US president said on Monday that he was looking forward to a “good meeting” with Petro.
Petro arrived in Washington on a special visa on Monday. Mr. Petro’s previous appointment was canceled by the State Department in September after he called on American soldiers not to follow Trump in a speech to a pro-Palestinian crowd.
Here’s how their public altercation unfolded.
Threat of deportation and tariffs
The relationship between the United States and Colombia is considered one of the most stable in the Americas, especially from a security and defense perspective. But there were signs of stress as early as January 2025, when Trump began his second term as president.
As part of his crackdown on illegal immigration, one of President Trump’s first moves was to launch a massive deportation campaign, using military aircraft to deport immigrants, sometimes with their hands tied.
Enraged by the way the deportees were being sent back, Petro said, “I will never allow Colombians to be brought back in handcuffs on a plane,” and blocked two of the flights from landing in his country.
But Petro withdrew later that day after the Trump administration threatened to impose tariffs and sanctions. Colombia announced it would accept “all” of President Trump’s conditions, including accepting unlimited illegal immigrants into the United States.
In March 2025, during a meeting in Bogotá, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem claimed that President Petro referred to members of the Venezuelan criminal organization Torren de Aragua as “friends” and said they were simply misunderstood people who needed “more love and understanding.”
Petro denied those comments and suggested the confusion may have been caused by his limited English proficiency.
Torren de Aragua, designated a foreign terrorist organization by the Trump administration, is a transnational criminal organization that originated in Venezuelan prisons and has gradually expanded its influence across the continent in recent years.
Revoke Colombia’s recognition and cancel Petro’s visa
The United States is Colombia’s main trading partner, and Bogotá is considered one of the United States’ key allies in the fight against drugs and narco-terrorism.
However, in mid-September, the Trump administration announced that Colombia had failed in its obligations to combat drug trafficking and decided to revoke the country’s certification as a counter-drug partner. Decertification comes with a series of U.S. restrictions, but U.S. officials said they would continue to provide funding to Colombia.
The Trump administration blamed Petro for the alleged failures, but Petro insisted that Colombia supported the United States and that drug use was a social problem in the United States, not Colombia.
“The United States revoked our accreditation after dozens of police officers, soldiers, and civilians were killed trying to disrupt cocaine trafficking,” Petro said.
Later that month, the South American president publicly called on American soldiers not to follow Trump, infuriating the United States. Petro was in New York to speak at the United Nations General Assembly, where he also called Trump an “accomplice of genocide” in Gaza.
In response, the U.S. State Department announced it was revoking Petro’s visa “due to his reckless and inflammatory behavior.” Mr. Petro later claimed that he did not need a visa to travel to the United States because he was a European citizen.
In October, President Trump stepped up his attacks on Petro.
He called him a “thug” and accused him of producing illegal drugs that reach the United States. The move came a month after the U.S. military launched an operation in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean to destroy suspected drug-trafficking vessels, an operation that Petro criticized.
Mr. Petro said he would work with his American lawyer to protect himself “from the slander directed at me.”
Just two days after this exchange, the U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions against the Colombian leader for his involvement in the global drug trade.
“Since President Gustavo Petro took power, cocaine production in Colombia has surged to the highest rate in decades, flooding the United States and addicting Americans,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.
Mr. Petro has repeatedly rejected the accusations but said he has hired an American lawyer and intends to fight the sanctions. He also claimed that cocaine production had not increased during his term. “On the contrary, our government has seized more cocaine than in the history of the world,” he said.
The list of people sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury also included Petro’s wife Veronica Alcocer, son Nicolas Petro, and Interior Minister Armando Benedetti.
Petro released his bank accounts in November to prove he had no ties to drug trafficking.
The spat between Trump and Petro escalated in early December.
Petro warned President Trump not to threaten Colombia’s sovereignty after the US president suggested that any country that trafficked drugs into the United States would be “targeted for attack.” He also invited President Trump to Colombia to see firsthand the country’s efforts to disrupt the drug trade.
Days later, President Trump suggested that the U.S. could apply the same pressure on Petro as it was exerting on then-Venezuela President Maduro. President Trump claimed the Colombian leader had been “pretty hostile” to the United States, saying, “He better get smart or he’ll be next.”
Petro countered that Trump was “misinformed” about Colombia.
The turning point came on January 3, 2026, when U.S. forces attacked neighboring Venezuela and captured Mr. Maduro.
Although Petro initially downplayed the results of the US operation, Trump issued a stern warning to the Colombian president.
“He’s manufacturing cocaine and he’s shipping it into the United States,” Trump said. “So he has to watch his ass.”
President Trump went on to say that Petro is a “sick guy who likes to make cocaine and sell it to the United States, and he won’t be doing that for very long.”
Petro rejected the charges and said he would “take up arms” if necessary to protect Colombia’s sovereignty.
Days later, Colombian Foreign Minister Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio indicated that she planned to meet with U.S. representatives to discuss President Trump’s threats.
On January 7, the two leaders had an unexpected telephone conversation that suggested a diplomatic truce.
Petro said his phone conversation with President Trump helped ease tensions between the two governments. He said they had agreed to restore direct communication channels but insisted that the U.S. operation in Venezuela was “illegal.”
Trump said he was “grateful” for the meeting and invited Petro to a meeting at the White House, which brought months of escalating friction to an abrupt halt.
Ahead of the meeting, Trump said Petro’s tone had changed in the past month or two.
“He certainly used to be critical,” Trump told reporters on Monday. “But after the Venezuelan attack, he somehow became much nicer. There’s been a big change in attitude.”
Colombia’s presidential office said the meeting would “define strategic priorities and strengthen lines of cooperation.”
Petro’s visit will include political, academic and business activities, as well as meetings with members of the Colombian diaspora in the United States. The presidential palace described it as a “milestone in bilateral relations.”
