The US leader has accused Bogota of allowing cocaine trafficking and has stepped up pressure on Gustavo Petro
US President Donald Trump has lashed out at his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, warning he could face consequences over cocaine trafficking that he claims is reaching America.
Trump’s remarks followed comments by Petro reacting to US seizures of Venezuelan oil ships, in which he claimed that “all of the southern US” was built on stolen land. He said Texas and California were “invaded” and demanded that the United States “give back what you stole.”
“He’s very bad, very bad guy, and he’s got to watch his ass because he makes cocaine and they send it into the United States,” Trump said Monday at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, responding to a reporter’s question about Petro’s remarks.
“We love the Colombian people ... but their new leader is a troublemaker, and he better watch it,” Trump added. He also claimed Colombia has at least three major cocaine factories and said “he better close them up fast.”
Colombia has long been a close US partner in Latin America, but ties have cooled since Petro, the country’s first left-wing president, took office in 2022.
US actions against Venezuela, including the seizure of oil tankers, have heightened tensions with Petro, who has criticized those moves and warned against US military intervention.
In September, the US State Department said it would revoke Petro’s visa, and the Trump administration later imposed sanctions under anti-drug trafficking authorities, steps Colombia has condemned as politically motivated.
A month later, Petro alleged that the Trump administration had bombed a Colombian boat carrying civilians during US operations targeting suspected drug smugglers near the Venezuelan coast.
Petro has pushed back against Trump’s rhetoric, disputing claims about drug production while pointing to Colombia’s efforts to curb illegal crops, although data show the country remains the main source of cocaine seized in the United States.
On Tuesday Colombia said it will deploy drones to destroy coca crops, a shift from manual eradication after aerial fumigation was banned in 2015 due to environmental concerns.
Washington has long criticized Bogota’s decision to halt aerial fumigation. In September, the US added Colombia to a list of nations it claimed were failing to cooperate in the drug war for the first time in nearly 30 years, accusing Petro’s government of not doing enough to curb cocaine production.