Trump threatens Colombia with tariffs and slashes aid, calls Petro a ‘drug leader’

The United States will slash assistance to Colombia and enact tariffs on its exports because the country’s leader, Gustavo Petro, “does nothing to stop” drug production, US President Donald Trump said on Sunday, escalating the friction between Washington and one of its closest allies in Latin America.

In a social media post, Trump referred to Petro as “an illegal drug leader” who is “low rated and very unpopular”. The Republican president warned that Petro “better close up” drug operations “or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely”.

Later in the day, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that Colombia has “no fight against drugs” and “they are a drug manufacturing machine” with “a lunatic” for a president. He said that he would announce new tariffs on Monday.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth also announced the latest US strike on a vessel that was allegedly carrying “substantial amounts of narcotics”.

He said the vessel was associated with a Colombian rebel group – the National Liberation Army, or ELN – that has been in conflict with Petro’s government. He did not provide any evidence for his assertions, but he shared a brief video clip of a boat engulfed in flames after an explosion on Friday.