President Donald Trump on Sunday spoke harshly about Colombia and its president, Gustavo Petro, while talking to reporters on Air Force One. Trump said he would stop all US payments to Colombia because the country was making drugs instead of stopping them.
According to Fox News, Trump said Colombia was running cocaine factories and not doing enough to fight drug trafficking. He told reporters that payments would end because “they make drugs, they refine drugs, they make cocaine, they have cocaine factories.” The president also said he would announce new taxes on Colombia on Monday.
In his strongest attack yet, Trump called Petro a “lunatic” and “the worst president they’ve ever had.” He had earlier called the Colombian leader an “illegal drug leader” on social media. Trump said Petro had “a fresh mouth toward America” and that drug smuggling kept happening “despite large scale payments and subsidies from the USA that are nothing more than a long term rip off of America.”
Things Went From Bad To Worse When Petro Responded
Things between Washington and Bogota have gotten much worse in recent months. Petro hit back at Trump’s claims on social media, saying they twisted the truth about Colombia’s work against drug trafficking. He wrote that “trying to promote peace in Colombia is not being a drug trafficker” and called himself “the main enemy” of drugs in his country.
Colombia’s Foreign Ministry strongly disagreed with Trump’s words, calling them an “illegal intervention” that goes against the country’s freedom to govern itself. Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez said that Colombian armed forces “have also lost men and women fighting drug trafficking.”
The fight comes as Colombia gets more aid from Washington than any other country in the region, though the money has gone down to about $230 million this year from earlier amounts of over $700 million. More cuts could hurt military work together and make it harder to fight rebel groups in the country. Trump has lately been going after leaders he thinks are not working with his plans, much like his ongoing fight with Illinois Governor Pritzker about Chicago crime.
Even after many years of the US and Colombia working together, coca growing hit an all-time high last year based on United Nations numbers. New violence has started up in rural areas where the government used to battle rebel fighters before making a peace deal.
This is not the first time Trump and Petro have clashed this year. Earlier, Petro said no to US military planes carrying people being sent back to their countries, which made Trump threaten taxes. The State Department said it would take away Petro’s visa after he went to the UN General Assembly in New York because he told American soldiers not to follow Trump’s orders.
The two leaders have also fought over US attacks on boats in the Caribbean, with Petro saying American forces killed a Colombian fisherman who had nothing to do with drug trafficking.
Published: Oct 20, 2025 11:36 am