Trump’s View of Colombia Leader Swings From ‘Sick’ to ‘Terrific’

President Donald Trump Photo by Alex Wong /Photographer: Alex Wong/Getty Im

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(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump’s opinion of Colombia’s leader swung from “sick” to “terrific” as a face-to-face White House meeting eased tensions between the ideological foes. 

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Trump and President Gustavo Petro discussed the war on drugs, energy and security in their two-hour sit-down at the Oval Office. 

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“He and I weren’t exactly the best of friends, but I would have felt it because I never met him,” Trump told reporters in Washington. 

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As recently as last month, Trump had accused Petro of being involved in the cocaine trade, and even threatened military strikes on Colombia. 

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“The U.S. president received a Latin American president in his home, and we spoke about concrete problems and joint paths to solve them,” Petro told reporters after the meeting. “A pact is not made between twins; it is made between people who disagree but can still find paths toward human brotherhood.”

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In a post on X, Petro published a dedication from Trump in a copy of his book The Art of the Deal, which read, “You are great.” 

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Many Colombians had seen the talks as fraught with risks, since a renewed clash might trigger damaging tariffs or worse. A White House meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskiy in February 2025, caused relations to sour, as did an encounter with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. 

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“Petro’s number one goal in today’s meeting was to avoid a Zelenskiy moment, and he apparently succeeded,” said James Bosworth, author of the Latin America Risk report newsletter. “It was likely helped by the lack of any television cameras in the room or a formal joint press conference afterward, meaning neither leader felt the need to cause controversy just for the ratings and attention.” 

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Petro wants Trump to remove Colombia from a rogue list of nations that don’t cooperate in battling drugs, and also get sanctions lifted on himself and his family. Trump said he is “working on” the sanctions issue. 

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Trump has repeatedly called on Petro to curb cocaine production, which has soared to a record during his presidency.

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Petro has been one of Trump’s most bitter antagonists in the Americas over the last year, repeatedly attacking Trump for his policies toward Venezuela, Cuba and Gaza. He also criticized his climate agenda as “anti-humanity” and his migration policies as “Nazi-style.”

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Colombia and the US have clashed over the extradition of drug lords, with Petro’s administration denying some requests, citing ongoing peace talks. However, early Tuesday before the presidential gathering, the government extradited Andrés Felipe Marín Silva, known as Pipe Tuluá, the leader of a criminal organization in the Pacific region of Valle del Cauca, accused of conspiring to ship cocaine to the US.

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“Beyond this meeting, Colombia, and specifically Petro’s government, has to work and give concrete signals that it will comply with the agreements that were reached,” said Andres Rugeles, vice-president at the Colombian Council on International Relations, an academic research center focused on foreign policy. “This is an important step, but it does not resolve the situation, because this is resolved through facts and specific actions.”