President Donald Trump is set to meet Colombian President Gustavo Petro in Washington on Feb. 3 following months of escalating tensions over narcotrafficking, regional security, and the arrest of Venezuela’s former leadership.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
President Donald Trump will welcome Colombian President Gustavo Petro to the White House on Feb. 3 for bilateral talks aimed at addressing sharp disagreements that have strained relations between Washington and Bogotá in recent months, according to statements from both governments.
The meeting follows a phone call between the two leaders in January, after which Trump publicly announced plans for an in-person discussion. In a Jan. 7 post on Truth Social, Trump said the call focused on “the situation of drugs and other disagreements that we have had,” adding that he appreciated Petro’s outreach and “look forward to meeting him in the near future.”
Narcotrafficking is expected to feature prominently in the talks. Trump has repeatedly warned that Colombia remains a major hub for coca cultivation and cocaine production, threatening last year that Petro “has to watch” because of what Trump described as active drug factories inside the country. “We know where they are,” Trump said at the time. “He’d better close them up fast.”
Colombia has long been a focal point of U.S. counter-narcotics policy, with American efforts to curb cocaine production stretching back decades. In a September 2025 presidential determination on major illicit drug-producing countries, the U.S. State Department described Colombia’s narcotics situation as deteriorating under Petro’s leadership.
“Coca cultivation and cocaine production have surged to all-time records under President Gustavo Petro, and his failed attempts to seek accommodations with narco-terrorist groups only exacerbated the crisis,” the determination stated. Trump concluded that Colombia had “failed demonstrably to meet its drug control obligations.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has since called for increased cooperation between U.S. and Colombian authorities to dismantle trafficking networks and prosecute those responsible.
Petro has rejected the U.S. assessment, issuing a lengthy response on social media in early January. In that statement, he said his government had removed 30,000 hectares of coca crops and replaced them with alternative agriculture, claiming, “I ordered the largest seizure of cocaine in world history,” and asserting that his administration had halted the growth of coca leaf cultivation through voluntary crop substitution programs.
Since beginning his second term, Trump has intensified U.S. efforts against international drug trafficking networks. Under Operation Southern Spear, the U.S. military has targeted vessels carrying illicit narcotics in recent months. Petro said many of the roughly 105 people killed in those strikes were Colombian nationals.
In one October incident, a semi-submersible vessel transporting drugs was struck, leaving one Colombian and one Ecuadorian survivor, while two others were killed.
The White House talks are also expected to address Venezuela, following the capture in January of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, by U.S. forces. The arrests further heightened regional tensions, prompting strong reactions from neighboring leaders.
Petro warned against any attempt to forcibly remove him from office, writing on social media last month that arresting a president supported by a significant portion of the population would unleash what he described as “the popular jaguar.” His comments followed Trump telling reporters that Petro was a “very bad guy” and “no friend of the United States.”
Relations deteriorated further last October when the Trump administration imposed sanctions on Petro, his wife, his son, and Colombia’s interior minister as part of a broader set of punitive measures.
The Feb. 3 meeting will mark the first face-to-face talks between Trump and Petro since tensions escalated, with officials on both sides signaling that drug enforcement, regional security, and the future of U.S.-Latin American relations will be central to the discussions.