Trump escalates rhetoric toward Colombia, warns Petro could be “next” in anti-drug campaign

US President Donald Trump has reignited tensions with Colombia, publicly warning President Gustavo Petro that he could be Washington’s next target in its expanding anti-drug operations. The remarks came during a White House roundtable on Wednesday, after a reporter simply asked whether the two leaders had spoken recently.

“I haven’t really thought too much about him. He’s been fairly hostile to the United States,” Trump said, before quickly sharpening his tone. “He’s going to have himself some big problems if he doesn’t wise up.”

Trump then delivered the threat outright: “Colombia is producing a lot of drugs. They have cocaine factories. They make cocaine, as you know, and they sell it right into the United States. So he better wise up, or he’ll be next. He’ll be next. I hope he’s listening.”

The comments landed just hours after Trump touted a US military seizure of an oil tanker in the Caribbean, part of an increasingly aggressive campaign aimed at Venezuela and Iran.

Relations with Colombia, once Washington’s most reliable regional ally in the “war on drugs,” have deteriorated sharply since Petro took office as the country’s first left-wing president. Trump has repeatedly suggested Colombia is failing to curb cocaine production and has hinted at potential military action, remarks that would have been unthinkable in previous administrations.

Colombia’s long-running internal conflict and sprawling criminal networks make coca eradication a politically volatile issue. Nearly 253,000 hectares of coca are under cultivation by UN estimates, far higher than in past decades. Critics say eradication targets peasant farmers instead of the organised groups that turn coca into cocaine.

Petro argues his government is dismantling those networks directly. He says authorities have destroyed 18,400 narcotics labs during his tenure. And after Trump’s December cabinet meeting comments, “Anybody that’s doing that and selling it into our country is subject to attack,” Petro responded swiftly.

“If any country has helped stop thousands of tons of cocaine from being consumed by Americans, it is Colombia,” he wrote on X, warning the US president not to “awaken the jaguar”.

“Attacking our sovereignty is declaring war,” Petro said. “Do not damage two centuries of diplomatic relations.” He then issued an invitation: “Come to Colombia, Mr Trump. I invite you, so you can participate in the destruction of the nine laboratories we dismantle every day.”