The president of the United States, donald trumpreceives his Colombian counterpart this Tuesday at the White House, Gustavo Petroafter a year of loud disagreements in which Washington has accused the South American president of being a drug trafficker and he has repeatedly criticized the Republican’s foreign policy.
These are the keys from a face to face to which Peter It comes in the final stretch of his mandate but it may be the most important of his presidency.
The meeting will be at 11:00 a.m. in Washington (same time in Bogotá and 16.00 GMT) in the White House Oval Office and officially it will take place behind closed doors, although trump It usually allows press access at the last minute.
LOOK: Petro will show Trump “conclusive figures” of Colombia’s fight against drugs
Petro is the third Latin American leader received by Trump in the White House during his second termafter the Salvadoran Nayib Bukele and the Argentine Javier Milei, ideological allies of the Republican.
The Colombian president arrived in Washington on Sunday night after obtaining a special visa, since he is sanctioned by the US Administration.
He will give Trump a basket of Colombian chocolates and coffee in an attempt to symbolize its coca crop substitution policy.
The relationship between Petro and Trump has been tense since the Republican leader returned to power on January 20, 2025.
Days after his inauguration, threatened Colombia with a tariff war over Petro’s refusal to receive migrant deportation flights, by denouncing “unworthy treatment.” The crisis was resolved the same day, but it left an open wound.
In September, Washington withdrew Colombia’s certification as a country that cooperates in the fight against drugs. and that same month, the State Department revoked his visa after urging, at a rally in New York, American soldiers to disobey Trump’s orders on Gaza.
The tone was raised even further in October, when Trump accused Petro of being “a drug trafficking leader,” while the Treasury Department imposed financial sanctions by including him, along with part of his family and the Minister of the Interior, Armando Benedetti, on the so-called Clinton List.
Petro also condemned the US bombings against boats in the Caribbeanand Trump even suggested that the Colombian president could be “the next” target after the operation against the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, but both agreed to meet in a surprise phone call on January 7, days after the arrest of the Chavista leader.
Trump stated this Tuesday that Petro “has changed his attitude a lot” since the overthrow of Maduro, and was convinced that they will have a good meeting.
The Colombian Foreign Minister, Rosa Villavicenciowho accompanies Petro in Washington, was also “very positive” this Tuesday about the face-to-face meeting and assured that The meeting will relaunch relations between both countries.
Petro arrives at the meeting in the final stretch of his mandate, since the first round of the presidential elections is scheduled for May 31, but the list of issues to be addressed is varied and complex.
These range from the president’s possible request to be removed from the Clinton List to immigration issues and eventual collaboration with Washington in its plans for the transition in Venezuela, a country that shares more than 2,000 kilometers of porous border with Colombia.
The issue of drug trafficking, however, is central. “It will be essential for Petro to find common ground with Trump in areas of highest priority for the United States,” Jason Marczak, director of the Latin American Center at the Atlantic Council, told EFE.
Petro will arrive at the White House with the intention of demonstrating with data that his policy, which is committed to crop substitution instead of the traditional war against drug trafficking, has been successful.
The White House denounces, however, that the area of coca crops has increased, based on United Nations figures that, according to the Colombian Government, were prepared with a “wrong methodology.”
Kevin Sullivan, vice president of the Council of the Americas, told EFE that Petro still has room for maneuver to implement changes given that he will hold office “for much of 2026,” until a new president takes office in August.
“President Trump will seek concrete commitments from President Petro to intensify actions and stop the growing flow of cocaine leaving Colombia,” he predicted.
