Trump and Colombia’s Petro, ideological opposites, meet at the White House
President Trump recently called Colombia’s leader Gustavo Petro “a sick man who loves making cocaine and selling it to the United States.”
Petro, meanwhile, labeled Trump a murderer and likened him to Adolf Hitler.
But on Tuesday, the two leaders got along well during a closed-door meeting at the White House that both described as productive.
Trump described the two-hour meeting, which discussed energy, Venezuela and bilateral efforts to combat drug trafficking, as “fantastic.”
Petro also described the conversation as “very positive” and said it had “an optimistic and constructive tone.”
He brought Colombian coffee for Trump and a dress made by local artisans for First Lady Melania Trump.
Trump gifted him a framed portrait of two men shaking hands. “I love Colombia” was written on it.
The meeting did not resolve significant political differences between Trump, who believes the United States should dominate the Western Hemisphere, and former leftist guerrilla Petro, who opposes the latest US operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
But it appeared to ease tensions between the United States and long-time allies Colombia, whose relations soured last year due to public clashes between Trump and Petro.
Shortly after Trump returned to the White House for a second term, relations between the countries became tense.
Petro refused to accept US military flights for deported immigrants and backed down only after Trump threatened heavy tariffs on imports of Colombian goods.
After Petro gave a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in which he harshly condemned US support for Israel and called on American soldiers to disobey Trump and “obey the dictates of humanity”, the State Department announced that the visas of Petro and several of his family members were revoked.
Last fall, Trump accused Petro of failing to stop cocaine production and of being a drug trafficker himself.
Washington removed Colombia’s certification that it was doing enough to eliminate cocaine crops and halted aid to Colombia worth more than $740 million in 2023. The Colombian government recalled its ambassador to the United States.
Tensions came to a head after the US bombed Caracas and captured Maduro last month.
Petro said the US had “kidnapped” Maduro and encouraged Trump to launch a similar attack in Colombia. “Come and get me. I’m waiting for you here,” he said.
Trump did not rule out the possibility of a US military operation against Colombia, saying, “It feels good to me.”
Relations were resolved with a phone call between the leaders on January 7, in which they agreed to meet face to face. The US gave Petro a temporary visa so he could visit the White House.
Colombian officials have said they plan to focus on maintaining Petro’s record in deterring drug trafficking, even as cocaine production has increased in Colombia. Acting Justice Minister Andrés Idárraga Franco recently said Petro’s administration had extradited more criminals to the United States than its conservative predecessors, including an alleged smuggler who was handed over to US authorities this week.
Reporters are usually allowed into the Oval Office to ask questions ahead of meetings between Trump and other heads of state, but were not allowed on Tuesday.
While Trump praised the meeting as productive, he tempered his praise.
“You know, he and I weren’t exactly the best of friends,” Trump said. “But I wasn’t insulted because I had never met him. I didn’t know him at all. And we got along very well.”
Speaking to reporters at the Colombian Embassy in Washington after the meeting, Petro touched on climate change and criticized the US operation in Venezuela and the incident he described as “genocide” in Gaza.
He said Trump gave him one of his trademark red ball caps. He said he took a pen to change Trump’s slogan and added the letter “s” to now read “Make America Great Again.”
Times staffer Ana Ceballos contributed reporting from Washington.
