‘A great honor’: Key takeaways from Trump’s meeting with Colombia’s Petro

For months, United States President Trump has called him a “sick man” and an “illegal cause leader”.

But connected Tuesday, Trump welcomed his Colombian counterpart Gustavo Petro to the White House for their archetypal face-to-face gathering successful Washington, DC.

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Both leaders hailed the gathering arsenic productive, portion acknowledging the lingering tensions that disagreement them.

At a quality league aft their meeting, Petro waved distant questions astir his rocky past with Trump, whom helium has publically accused of quality rights violations.

Instead, helium called their enactment “ a gathering betwixt 2 equals who person antithetic ways of thinking”.

“He didn’t alteration his mode of his thinking. Neither did I. But however bash you bash an agreement, a pact? It’s not arsenic betwixt duplicate brothers. It’s betwixt opponents,” Petro said.

Separately, Trump told reporters from the Oval Office that helium felt bully astir the meeting. “I thought it was terrific,” helium said.

On the docket for the 2 leaders were issues including the combat against transnational cause trafficking and information successful Latin America.

Here are 5 takeaways from Tuesday’s meeting.

A White House charm offensive

Over the past year, Trump has invited the media to enactment successful his meetings with overseas leaders, often holding quality conferences with the visiting dignitaries successful the Oval Office.

Not this time, however. The gathering betwixt Trump and Petro lasted astir 2 hours, each of it down closed doors.

But the 2 leaders emerged with mostly affirmative things to accidental astir 1 another.

In a station connected societal media, Petro revealed that Trump had talented him respective items, including a commemorative photo of their gathering accompanied by a signed note.

“Gustavo — a large honor. I emotion Colombia” it read, followed by Trump’s signature.

In different post, Petro showed disconnected a signed transcript of Trump’s publication The Art of the Deal. On its rubric page, Trump had scrawled different enactment to Petro: “You are great.”

“Can idiosyncratic archer maine what Trump said successful this dedication?” Petro wrote jokingly successful Spanish connected societal media. “I don’t recognize overmuch English.”

A turning constituent successful a tense relationship?

Petro’s gag appeared to beryllium a cheeky motion to his notoriously rocky narration with Trump.

It was lone six days into Trump’s 2nd word — connected January 26, 2025 — that helium and Petro first began their feud, trading threats connected societal media implicit the destiny of 2 US deportation flights.

Petro objected to reported quality rights violations facing the deportees. Trump, meanwhile, took Petro’s archetypal refusal to judge the flights arsenic a menace to US “national security”. Petro yet backed down aft Trump threatened steep sanctions connected imported Colombian goods.

But they person continued to commercialized barbs successful the months since. Petro, for instance, has condemned the deadly US attacks connected boats successful the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, comparing the strikes to murder.

He has besides criticised Trump for carrying retired a US subject violative successful Venezuela to abduct then-President Nicolas Maduro. That attack, Petro said, was tantamount to “kidnapping”.

Trump, meanwhile, stripped Petro of his US visa pursuing the Colombian leader’s quality astatine the United Nations General Assembly, wherever helium criticised the US and concisely joined a pro-Palestinian protest.

His medication has besides sanctioned Petro successful October, blaming the left-wing person for allowing “drug cartels to flourish”.

After removing Maduro from powerfulness connected January 3, Trump offered a informing to Petro: that helium had amended “watch his a**”. That connection was wide interpreted to beryllium a menace of subject enactment against Colombia.

Still, Trump and Petro look to person reached a turning constituent past month. On January 7, the 2 leaders held their archetypal telephone together. Tuesday’s in-person gathering marked different archetypal successful their relationship.

Agreeing to disagree

Despite the easing tensions, Trump and Petro some utilized their nationalist statements aft their gathering to reaffirm their differences.

Trump was the archetypal to speak, holding a quality league successful the Oval Office arsenic helium signed authorities to extremity a authorities shutdown.

The US president, a subordinate of the right-wing Republican Party, utilized the quality to bespeak connected the governmental tensions they had successful the lead-up to the meeting.

“He and I weren’t precisely the champion of friends, but I wasn’t insulted due to the fact that I’d ne'er met him,” Trump told reporters.

He added that Tuesday’s gathering was nevertheless pleasant. “I didn’t cognize him astatine all, and we got on precise well.”

Petro, meanwhile, held a longer quality league astatine the Colombian embassy successful Washington, DC, wherever helium raised immoderate points of divergence helium had with Trump.

Among the topics helium mentioned was Israel’s genocidal warfare successful Gaza, which the US supported, and sustainable vigor initiatives designed to beryllium c neutral. Trump, successful the past, has called alleged greenish vigor programmes a “scam”.

Petro, Colombia’s archetypal left-wing leader, besides reflected connected his region’s past with colonialism and overseas intervention. He told reporters that it was important that Latin America marque decisions for itself, escaped from immoderate extracurricular “coercion”.

“ We don’t run nether blackmail,” helium said astatine 1 point, successful an evident notation to Trump’s unit campaigns.

Differing attack to cause production

One of the superior points of contention, however, was Petro’s attack to combatting cause trafficking.

Colombia is the world’s largest shaper of cocaine, liable for producing 68 percent of the planetary supply.

The Trump medication has utilized the combat against planetary cause trafficking arsenic justification for carrying retired lethal subject strikes successful planetary waters and successful Venezuela, contempt experts condemning the attacks arsenic amerciable nether planetary law.

It has besides stripped Colombia of its certification arsenic an state successful its planetary counter-narcotics operations.

Trump’s White House has said it volition see reversing that determination if Petro takes “more assertive enactment to eradicate coca and trim cocaine accumulation and trafficking”.

But Petro has rejected immoderate effort to statement him arsenic brushed connected cause trafficking, alternatively touting the historical cause busts his authorities has overseen.

He made that statement yet again aft Tuesday’s meeting, claiming that nary different Colombian medication had done arsenic overmuch arsenic his to combat cocaine trafficking.

Rather than instrumentality a militarised attack to destroying crops of coca — the earthy constituent for cocaine — Petro argued connected Tuesday that helium has had much occurrence with voluntary eradication programmes.

That push, helium said, succeeded successful “getting thousands of peasant farmers to uproot the works themselves”.

“These are 2 antithetic methods, 2 antithetic ways of knowing however to combat cause trafficking,” Petro said. “One that is brutal and self-interested, and what it ends up doing is promoting mafia powers and cause traffickers, and different approach, which is intelligent, which is effective.”

Petro maintained it was much strategical to spell aft apical drug-ring leaders than to punish impoverished agrarian farmers by forcibly ripping up their crops.

“I told President Trump, if you privation an state successful warring cause trafficking, it’s going aft the apical kingpins,” helium said.

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro speaks during a quality league astatine the Colombian embassy successful Washington, DC, connected February 3 [Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo]

A Trumpian note

Tuesday’s gathering yet marked yet different high-profile reversal for Trump, who has a past of shifting his relationships with different satellite leaders.

Last year, for instance, helium lashed retired astatine Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy successful a nationalist Oval Office clash, lone to lukewarm to the war-time person respective months later.

But Colombia is rapidly approaching a pivotal statesmanlike predetermination successful May, which volition spot Petro’s left-wing coalition, the Historic Pact, question to support the presidency against an ascendant acold right.

Petro himself cannot tally for consecutive presumption nether Colombian law. But determination is speculation that Tuesday’s detente with Trump whitethorn assistance Petro’s conjugation debar US condemnation up of the vote.

Colombia, aft all, was until precocious the largest recipient of US assistance successful South America, and it has agelong harboured adjacent ties with the North American superpower. Straining those ties could truthful beryllium seen arsenic an predetermination liability.

While Petro acknowledged his differences with Trump during his remarks, astatine times helium expressed definite views that overlapped with the US president’s.

Like Trump has successful the past, Petro utilized portion of his code connected Tuesday to question the relation of the United Nations successful maintaining planetary security.

“ Did it not amusement incapacity? Isn’t a betterment needed?” Petro asked, wondering aloud if determination was “something superior to the United Nations that would bring humanity unneurotic amended successful a amended way”.

But erstwhile it came to donning Trump’s signature “Make America Great Again” shot cap, Petro drew a enactment — oregon rather, a squiggle.

On societal media, helium shared an accommodation helium made to the cap’s slogan. A jagged, Sharpie-inked “S” amended the operation to see to the full Western Hemisphere: “Make Americas Great Again.”