Colombia has recalled its ambassador from Washington, deepening one of the sharpest diplomatic crises in the Western Hemisphere after President Donald Trump branded his Colombian counterpart an “illegal drug leader” and threatened tariffs and a full aid cutoff.
The Foreign Ministry said on Monday that Ambassador Daniel Garcia-Pena had been recalled to Bogota for consultations. Hours earlier, Trump had said on Sunday that he would terminate all US aid to Colombia and announce new tariffs targeting the country on Monday, according to reports.
A feud years in the making
The confrontation has been building since Trump’s return to power. After Petro objected to US military strikes on vessels in the Caribbean accused of smuggling drugs, strikes that have killed dozens of people, Trump escalated rapidly, according to reports. The Treasury Department sanctioned Petro and his family on Friday, placing them on the OFAC list, and in September Washington decertified Colombia as an ally in its war on drugs, saying it had “failed demonstrably”.
Petro’s interior minister described Trump’s remarks about forcibly ending drug cultivation as a “threat of invasion or military action against Colombia”, according to reports. On Monday, Petro declared the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, in place since 2010, “de facto suspended”, attributing the move to Washington’s unilateral tariff actions.
What happens next
As of late Monday evening, the Trump administration had made no tariff announcement, but Petro had held a meeting with US charge d’affaires John McNamara at the presidential palace, with no details released, according to reports.
Colombia was once among the largest recipients of US aid in the hemisphere, though the flow was suddenly curtailed this year by the shuttering of USAID. With the ambassador gone and the trade pact suspended, one of Latin America’s most important bilateral relationships is now in uncharted territory.
The crisis also has a domestic dimension in Colombia. Former defence minister Juan Carlos Pinzon urged Washington not to punish ordinary Colombians for Petro’s policies, arguing that targeted financial sanctions on traffickers and corrupt officials would be more effective than tariffs that hit jobs and businesses, according to reports. Colombia remains the world’s largest producer of cocaine, a trend that predates Petro’s presidency.
