President Donald Trump raises a fist while crossing the South Lawn to board Marine One en route to Palm Beach, Fla., at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Friday. On Sunday, he announced he would end all funding to Colombia in a row with the South American country’s president, Gustavo Petro. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
President Donald Trump on Sunday announced he was cutting all federal funding to Colombia amid a deepening row between the right-wing populist American leader and socialist President Gustavo Petro.
“AS OF TODAY, THESE PAYMENTS, OR ANY OTHER FORM OF PAYMENT, OR SUBSIDIES, WILL NO LONGER BE MADE TO COLOMBIA,” Trump said on his Truth Social media platform.
Colombia has long been a key U.S. partner in South America, receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. aid and assistance each year. As the funding is congressionally approved, Trump has limited authority to unilaterally end it. In fiscal year 2023, the United States gave Colombia $440 million, according to the Congressional Research Service.
In the fiery statement, Trump accused Petro of being “an illegal drug leader” as he “does nothing to stop” the production of drugs in Colombia — accusations that Petro has repeatedly rejected, saying his government seized about 1,000 tons of cocaine and closed more than 5,000 cocaine laboratories in 2024.
“Petro, a low rated and very unpopular leader, with a fresh mouth toward America, better close up these killing fields immediately, or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely,” Trump said.
In response, Petro accused Trump of being “rude and ignorant toward Colombia.”
“I don’t do business, as you do. I am a socialist; I believe in solidarity, in the common good and in humanity’s shared goods — the greatest of which is life itself, now endangered by your oil,” Petro said on X.
“If I am not a businessman, then even less am I a drug trafficker; there is no greed in my heart.”
The back-and-forth between the pair comes as Trump has conducted a series of strikes targeting alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean. Critics question the legality of the strikes, with the Trump administration defending them on citing undisclosed intelligence confirming the boats are trafficking narcotics.
Petro has accused Trump of killing a Colombian fisherman, identified as Alejandro Carranza, in a mid-September strike.
Petro on Sunday, before Trump’s announcement, accused the United States of “murder” and of violating Colombia’s sovereignty in territorial waters over Carranza’s killing.
“The Colombian boat was adrift and had its distress signal up due to an engine failure,” Petro said in a statement.
“We await explanations from the U.S. government.”
In a separate post on Sunday, Petro said Carranza was from Santa Marta, the city planning to hold next month’s CELAC-EU summit.
“The USA has invaded national territory with a missile fired to kill a humble fisherman, has destroyed his family, his children. This is the homeland of Bolivar and they are murdering his children with bombs,” Petro said.
“The USA offended the national territory of Colombia and killed an honest, hardworking Colombian. Let the sword of Bolivar be Raised!”
Relations between the United States and Colombia were strained slightly under the previous Biden administration as Petro took exception to the U.S. backing of Israel in its war in Gaza.
That relationship has steadily deteriorated under the Trump administration, first when in January, Washington and Bogota threatened one another with tit-for-tat tariffs as Petro barred the White House from sending military planes loaded with migrants to the South American country — an issue later resolved with Colombia receiving the migrants.
Then in July they recalled their respective top diplomats from each other’s country over an alleged plot involving former Colombian Foreign Minister Alvaro Leyva trying to seek Republican and Trump administration help to oust Petro.
The United States has struck at least seven alleged drug trafficking boats since its campaign began in September, killing more than 30 people.
