Despite months of clashing over US military intervention and drug trafficking, the two leaders say they shared a ‘terrific’ meeting.
For months, United States President Donald Trump has called him a “sick man” and an “illegal drug leader”.
But on Tuesday, Trump welcomed his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, to the White House for their first face-to-face meeting in Washington, DC.
Both leaders hailed the meeting as productive, while acknowledging the lingering tensions that divide them.
At a news conference after their meeting, Petro waved away questions about his rocky history with Trump, whom he has publicly accused of human rights violations.
Instead, he called the interaction “ a meeting between two equals who have different ways of thinking”.
“He didn’t change his way of his thinking. Neither did I. But how do you do an agreement, a pact? It’s not as between twin brothers. It’s between opponents,” Petro said.
Separately, Trump told reporters from the Oval Office that he felt good about the meeting. “I thought it was terrific,” he said.
On the agenda for the two leaders were issues including the fight against transnational drug trafficking and security in Latin America.
Here are five takeaways from Tuesday’s meeting.
A White House charm offensive
Over the past year, Trump has invited the media to participate in his meetings with foreign leaders, often holding news conferences with the visiting dignitaries in the Oval Office.
Not this time, however. The meeting between Trump and Petro lasted nearly two hours, all of it behind closed doors.
But the two leaders emerged with largely positive things to say about one another.
In a post on social media, Petro revealed that Trump had gifted him several items, including a commemorative photograph of their meeting accompanied by a signed note.
“Gustavo – a great honor. I love Colombia,” it read, followed by Trump’s signature.
In another post, Petro showed off a signed copy of Trump’s book, The Art of the Deal. On its title page, Trump had scrawled another note to Petro: “You are great.”
“Can someone tell me what Trump said in this dedication?” Petro wrote jokingly in Spanish on social media. “I don’t understand much English.”
A turning point in a tense relationship?
Petro’s joke appeared to be a cheeky nod to his notoriously rocky relationship with Trump.
It was only six days into Trump’s second term, on January 26, 2025, that he and Petro began their feud, trading threats on social media over the fate of two US deportation flights.
Petro objected to the reported human rights violations facing the deportees. Trump, meanwhile, took Petro’s initial refusal to accept the flights as a threat to US “national security”. Petro ultimately backed down after Trump threatened steep sanctions on imported Colombian goods.
They continued to trade barbs in the months since. Petro, for instance, has condemned the deadly US attacks on boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, comparing the strikes with murder.
He has also criticised Trump for carrying out a US military offensive in Venezuela to abduct then-President Nicolas Maduro. That attack, Petro said, was tantamount to “kidnapping”.
Trump, meanwhile, stripped Petro of his US visa following the Colombian leader’s appearance at the United Nations General Assembly, where he criticised the US and briefly joined a pro-Palestinian protest.
The Trump administration also sanctioned Petro in October, blaming the left-wing leader for allowing “drug cartels to flourish”.
After removing Maduro from power on January 3, Trump offered a warning to Petro: he had better “watch his a**”. The statement was widely interpreted to be a threat of military action against Colombia.
But Trump and Petro appeared to have reached a turning point last month. On January 7, the two leaders held their first call together. Tuesday’s in-person meeting marked another first in their relationship.
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