President Donald Trump announced Sunday that the U.S. will immediately cease all aid and subsidies to Colombia and plans to impose “major” tariffs on the country, escalating tensions in a heated feud with Colombian President Gustavo Petro over drug production.
In a fiery social media post, President Trump accused the Colombian leader of “strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs” and doing “nothing to stop it,” despite receiving “large scale payments and subsidies from the USA.”
“AS OF TODAY, THESE PAYMENTS, OR ANY OTHER FORM OF PAYMENT, OR SUBSIDIES, WILL NO LONGER BE MADE TO COLOMBIA,” Trump declared on his Truth Social platform. He called Petro, a leftist ally of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, a “low rated and very unpopular leader” and warned him to “close up these killing fields immediately, or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely.”
The announcement follows a Sunday X post by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), which the President confirmed to reporters was “correct.” Graham’s post stated that Trump would be “announcing major Tariffs against the Country of Colombia” on Monday.
U.S. foreign aid to Colombia, a traditional close ally in Latin America, totaled over $200 million in the current fiscal year, though this figure represents a reduction from previous years.
The confrontation is the latest deterioration in the strained relationship between Washington and Bogotá under President Petro. The discord has been sharply aggravated by the Trump administration’s campaign of deadly military strikes on alleged drug vessels in the Caribbean Sea.
Hours before Trump’s announcement, President Petro took to X to accuse the U.S. of having killed an innocent “lifelong fisherman” in a September strike and a series of other attacks on vessels the U.S. has labeled as carrying “narco-terrorists.” Petro responded to Trump’s personal attack, stating that while Colombia “has greatly admired its culture,” Trump’s comments were “rude and ignorant toward Colombia.”
Adding to the tension, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Sunday a new U.S. strike that killed “three male narco-terrorists” aboard a vessel allegedly affiliated with Colombia’s National Liberation Army (ELN) rebel group.
Separately, President Trump confirmed a strike Friday on an alleged “drug-carrying submarine,” with two captured survivors to be repatriated to Colombia and Ecuador.
Legal Scrutiny on Capitol Hill
The U.S. military’s campaign of maritime strikes has drawn bipartisan scrutiny on Capitol Hill regarding the legal basis for the lethal force. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the strikes “go against all of our tradition” without presenting evidence or identifying the killed individuals.
Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ), a member of the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence committees, echoed these concerns on CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” expressing worry about “the legal authorities or lack thereof” and noting a recent briefing had a “tremendous number of holes in it.” The Pentagon has released little information to substantiate its claim that all those killed were “narco-terrorists.”
The dramatic moves—slashing aid and imposing new tariffs—signal a significant escalation in U.S. policy toward one of its most important Latin American partners, linking bilateral economic ties directly to the U.S. administration’s aggressive counternarcotics strategy.
READ: Department Of War Confirms Deadly Strike On ELN ‘Narco-Terrorist’ Vessel
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