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Donald Trump has threatened to cut funding to Colombia after accusing its leftist President Gustavo Petro of being an illegal drug leader who was doing nothing to stop the flow of narcotics into the US.
The US president said in a post on Truth Social on Sunday that Petro was “an illegal drug leader strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs, in big and small fields, all over Columbia [sic]”.
He added that Petro “does nothing to stop it, despite large scale payments and subsidies from the USA that are nothing more than a long term rip off of America”.
Trump said that, as of today, no payments or subsidies would be made to the Latin American nation.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham later posted on X that Trump would announce “major” tariffs against Colombia today or tomorrow.
The relationship between Trump and Petro has become increasingly antagonistic as they have sparred over drug policy, migration and the war in Gaza.
Trump’s escalation appeared to be in retaliation to Petro’s comments earlier on Sunday that the US was guilty of murder after attacking a vessel in the Caribbean on September 16, killing a Colombian fisherman.
“US government officials have committed murder and violated our sovereignty in territorial waters,” Petro wrote on X.
The strike was one of a series of extraordinary military operations by the Trump administration against Venezuela, which it accuses of trafficking narcotics into the US. American forces have sunk what the administration claims are Venezuelan drug-smuggling vessels and ordered its largest deployment of warships and fighter jets to the Caribbean in more than 30 years.
Pete Hegseth, Trump’s defence secretary, on Sunday confirmed that the latest attack, which took place on Friday, killed three people. He said the vessel was affiliated with Colombia’s National Liberation Army rebel group, a US-designated terrorist organisation.
Venezuelan opposition figures and analysts say the US is attempting to topple the country’s autocratic leader Nicolás Maduro. The US actions have put the region on edge.
A May report by the Congressional Research Service said Colombia was one of the top recipients of US foreign assistance, with at least $377.5mn designated last year.
Washington has provided Bogotá with about $14bn in military funding this century, including its Plan Colombia aid package, which bolstered the country’s military in its fight against leftist guerrillas and drug traffickers.
Trump said on Sunday: “Petro, a low rated and very unpopular leader, with a fresh mouth towards America, better close up these killing fields immediately, or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely.”
The US has an increasingly tense relationship with a country that has traditionally been one of its closest allies in Latin America.
Washington last month decertified Bogotá as an ally in combating drug trafficking for the first time since 1997, blaming Petro for a surge of cocaine production, of which Colombia is the world’s largest producer.
“Trump is being misled by his inner circle and advisers,” Petro wrote on X on Sunday. “The greatest enemy drug trafficking ever had in Colombia in the 21st century was the one who exposed its connections to the country’s political establishment; and that was me.”
Since taking office in 2022, Petro, a leftist former guerrilla who has suggested legalising cocaine, has sought peace deals with rebels and drug trafficking groups.
Elizabeth Dickinson, Colombia analyst at the International Crisis Group, said that the dispute between the two combative presidents reflects the subjugation of long-term institutional ties to personal politics.
“It will be difficult — if not impossible — for the US to achieve its goals in Latin America while alienating its closest military and intelligence-sharing partner,” Dickinson said.
“Roughly 80 per cent of the actionable intelligence the US uses to interdict drugs in the Caribbean comes from Colombian security forces — severing that relationship would be a direct blow to US foreign policy objectives.”
Last month, the US revoked Petro’s visa after he called on US soldiers to “disobey Trump’s orders” during a pro-Palestine rally in New York.
In January, Trump threatened to hit Colombian imports with 25 per cent tariffs after Petro refused to receive deportation flights in which Colombian nationals were shackled. Petro ultimately backed down.
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