Colombian President Gustavo Petro arrives on the presidential palace in Panama Metropolis. File
| Picture Credit score: AP
President Donald Trump is ready to welcome Colombian President Gustavo Petro to the White Home on Tuesday (February 3, 2026) for talks solely weeks after threatening navy motion towards the South American nation and accusing the chief of pumping cocaine into the USA.
U.S. administration officers say the assembly will give attention to regional safety cooperation and counternarcotics efforts. And Mr. Trump on Monday (February 2, 202^) instructed tha Mr. Petro — who has continued to criticise Mr. Trump and the U.S. operation to seize Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro — appears extra prepared to work along with his administration to stem the movement of unlawful medication from Colombia.
Additionally Learn |Colombian President Gustavo Petro rejects Donald Trump threats, says ‘cease slandering me’
“Someway after the Venezuelan raid, he turned very good,” Mr. Trump instructed reporters. “He modified his perspective very a lot.”
But, dangerous blood between the leaders overshadows the sit-down, at the same time as Mr. Trump sought to downplay any friction on the eve of the go to.
The conservative Mr. Trump and leftist Petro are ideologically far aside, however each leaders share an inclination for verbal bombast and unpredictability. That units the stage for a White Home go to with an anything-could-happen vibe.
In latest days, Mr. Petro has continued poking on the U.S. president, calling Mr. Trump an “confederate to genocide” within the Gaza Strip, whereas asserting that the seize of Maduro was a kidnapping.
And forward of his departure for Washington, Mr. Petro known as on Colombians to take to the streets of Bogotá throughout the White Home assembly.
There’s been a shift in U.S.-Colombia relations
Traditionally, Colombia has been a U.S. ally. For the previous 30 years, the U.S. has labored carefully with Colombia, the world’s largest producer of cocaine, to arrest drug traffickers, fend off insurgent teams and increase financial growth in rural areas.
However relations between the leaders have been strained by Trump’s massing U.S. forces within the area for unprecedented lethal navy strikes focusing on suspected drug smuggling boats within the Caribbean Sea and japanese Pacific. Not less than 126 folks have been killed in 36 identified strikes.
In October, the Trump administration introduced it was imposing sanctions on Petro, his household and a member of his authorities over accusations of involvement within the international drug commerce.
The Treasury Division leveled the penalties towards Petro; his spouse, Veronica del Socorro Alcocer Garcia; his son, Nicolas Fernando Petro Burgos; and Colombian Inside Minister Armando Alberto Benedetti.
The sanctions, which needed to be waived to permit Petro to journey to Washington this week, got here after the U.S. administration in September introduced it was including Colombia to an inventory of countries failing to cooperate within the drug conflict for the primary time in three many years.
Then got here the audacious navy operation final month to seize Maduro and his spouse to face federal drug conspiracy prices, a transfer that Petro has forcefully denounced. Following Maduro’s ouster, Trump put Colombia on discover, and ominously warned Petro he might be subsequent.
Colombia is “run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and promoting it to the USA,” Trump stated of Petro final month. “And he is not gonna be doing it very lengthy, let me inform you.” However just a few days later, tensions eased considerably after a name between the leaders. Trump stated Petro of their hourlong dialog defined “the drug scenario and different disagreements.” And Trump prolonged an invite to Petro for the White Home go to.
Trump on a few events has used the usually scripted leaders’ conferences to ship stern rebukes to counterparts in entrance of the press.
Trump and Vice President JD Vance lashed out at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in February for displaying inadequate gratitude for U.S. assist of Ukraine. Trump additionally used a White Home assembly in Might to forcefully confront South African President Cyril Ramaphosa,accusing the nation, with reporters current, of failing to deal with Trump’s baseless declare of the systematic killing of white farmers.
It was not clear that the assembly between Trump and Petro would come with a portion in entrance of cameras. (AP) AMS
Revealed – February 03, 2026 02:43 pm IST