In a dramatic turn for U.S.-Colombia relations, the Trump administration this week designated Colombia as a country failing to meet its international commitments to fight drug trafficking—a move that has sent shockwaves through diplomatic circles and stirred up a fierce response from Colombian leaders. For the first time in three decades, Washington has removed Colombia from its list of allies in the war on drugs, citing a surge in cocaine production and what it calls flawed anti-drug efforts under President Gustavo Petro’s administration.
The decision, announced on September 16, 2025, marks a stunning rebuke for a nation long considered one of the United States’ closest partners in Latin America. According to the Associated Press, the U.S. administration blamed President Petro’s leadership for the spike in cocaine production, describing his attempts to negotiate peace with so-called “narco terrorist groups” as a failure. The U.S. report acknowledged Colombia’s security institutions and local authorities for their “skill and courage” in confronting drug traffickers but concluded, “the failure of Colombia to meet its drug control obligations over the past year rests solely with its political leadership.”
Colombia’s response was swift and fiery. President Gustavo Petro, a former rebel and the country’s first leftist leader, took to social media to denounce the U.S. action. “The Colombian people will reply if they want a puppet president…or a free and sovereign nation,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. In another pointed message, Petro declared he would not let Colombia “kneel” to U.S. interests or allow peasants who grow coca—the base ingredient for cocaine—to get “beaten up.”
Petro’s rhetoric didn’t stop there. He accused the United States of seeking to “participate” in Colombian politics as the country prepares for presidential elections next year, warning against foreign interference and vowing to defend Colombia’s sovereignty. “We will not kneel,” he insisted, staking out a defiant posture that has resonated with some of his supporters but unsettled others who fear a broader diplomatic rift.
Despite the harsh language, the Trump administration stopped short of imposing the most severe penalties. On the same day as the decertification, President Trump signed a waiver to avoid mandatory cuts in military aid and other sanctions that would have hit Colombia hard. As John McNamara, the U.S. embassy’s charge d’affaires in Bogota, explained to Colombian radio station Blu, “We are going to do everything we can to fight with the Colombian people against the global threat of drugs.” He emphasized that consular services, humanitarian projects, and defense cooperation would not be affected by the decertification.
The numbers underpinning the dispute are staggering. According to the latest report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the amount of land dedicated to coca cultivation in Colombia has nearly tripled over the past decade, reaching a record 253,000 hectares in 2023. This surge has fueled a spike in cocaine production and, by extension, increased tensions between Washington and Bogota.
Colombia’s top military leadership has tried to play down the diplomatic spat, even as they insist on national autonomy. General Francisco Cubides, commander of Colombia’s defense forces, told AFP hours after the U.S. announcement that the fight against drug cartels would continue “with or without the support of the United States.” He stressed the importance of bilateral cooperation, noting, “Colombia and the United States have had a close relationship in many areas, particularly in the military. We have clear support from them, but Colombia also contributes. Our work is complementary.”
Still, the political climate is tense. Over recent decades, the United States has sent billions of dollars in aid to Colombia to help combat cartels, guerrillas, and paramilitaries involved in the drug trade. But the personal and political animosity between President Trump and President Petro has soured a previously close security partnership. Sandra Borda, an international relations professor at Bogota’s Los Andes University, told the Associated Press that Colombia’s decertification is unlikely to disrupt anti-drug operations on the ground, since military cooperation is expected to continue. However, she anticipates that “tensions between the governments of the U.S. and Colombia will increase, as Petro uses Colombia’s decertification to tap into anti-American sentiment and rally his supporters ahead of next year’s elections.”
The Trump administration’s move comes against a backdrop of broader disagreements. Petro has repeatedly angered senior U.S. officials by denying American extradition requests and by criticizing both the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration and its efforts to combat drug trafficking in neighboring Venezuela. He has also been outspoken about U.S. foreign policy elsewhere, notably condemning what he calls the Trump administration’s support for “Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.” In a particularly controversial statement, Petro argued that whisky kills more people than cocaine, suggesting that wealthy countries like the United States want to crack down on cocaine simply because it’s produced in Latin America.
For its part, the Trump administration has argued that the Colombian cocaine trade has flourished under Petro, who has favored negotiating with armed groups over violent confrontation. As reported by AFP, the administration claims this approach has emboldened traffickers and undermined progress made in previous years. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio weighed in on the matter, saying, “Colombia has been a great partner historically. But they have a president now who in addition to being erratic has not been a very good partner when it comes to taking on drug cartels.”
As the diplomatic standoff unfolded, Petro announced a moratorium on U.S. arms purchases—a symbolic gesture that highlights the growing distance between the two governments. Yet, even as the rhetoric escalates, both sides acknowledge the enduring importance of cooperation. General Cubides was quick to point out that “the only one who wins if we don’t work together is crime.”
It’s a complicated picture, with high stakes for both nations. For Colombia, the U.S. remains a critical partner in the fight against crime and in economic development. For Washington, Colombia’s stability is seen as a bulwark against the spread of organized crime and instability elsewhere in the region. But with record cocaine production, political tensions, and an election on the horizon, the road ahead looks anything but smooth. The coming months will reveal whether these old allies can find common ground—or whether their differences will deepen, with consequences for the entire hemisphere.
