# Trump says U.S. will end aid to Colombia as feud over drug trafficking deepens
Donald Trump has said the United States will stop all payments and subsidies to Colombia, accusing President Gustavo Petro’s government of failing to confront drug production and warning that tariffs are on the way.
The move, announced on event date 2025-10-19, marks the sharpest turn yet in a fast-moving dispute between Washington and one of its longest-standing partners in Latin America. In a social media post and later comments to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump described Petro in hostile terms and argued that U.S. support amounted to a “long term rip off” of America.
The latest threat comes after months of escalating friction between the two governments. Trump has already pushed Colombia with tariff threats over migration and has clashed repeatedly with Petro on social media. The Colombian president, who was elected as the country’s first leftist leader, has responded by rejecting Trump’s accusations and portraying himself as a defender of anti-narcotics policy in a country that remains the world’s largest exporter of cocaine.
Trump’s announcement also landed alongside a fresh U.S. military strike in the Caribbean. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the latest attack targeted a vessel allegedly carrying “substantial amounts of narcotics” and linked it to the National Liberation Army, or ELN, a Colombian rebel group. Hegseth did not present evidence for that claim in his statement, though he shared a short video clip showing a boat engulfed in flames.
Petro rejected Trump’s allegations and accused the United States of killing a Colombian fisherman in a separate strike. He said Washington had attacked a boat that was malfunctioning and that the man killed had no ties to trafficking. The White House and Pentagon did not immediately respond to his claims, according to the AP account.
The exchange is part of a wider U.S. military campaign in the Caribbean and nearby waters that the Trump administration says is aimed at narcotics traffickers. AP reported that there have been seven U.S. strikes in the region since early September, with at least 32 people killed. That campaign has raised tensions not only with Venezuela, where Trump has also authorized covert action, but now more visibly with Colombia, which the AP noted is a longtime U.S. ally and the top recipient of American assistance in the region.
The financial stakes are large. Colombia received an estimated $230 million in the U.S. budget year that ended Sept. 30, down sharply from recent years when annual support exceeded $700 million, according to U.S. figures cited by AP. Trump said those payments would stop immediately, although it was not clear how quickly any formal cuts would take effect or whether existing programs would be exempt while U.S. agencies work through the decision.
The conflict now leaves both governments in a politically sensitive position. Petro has tried to defend Colombia’s anti-drug record and cast Trump’s language as insulting and reckless. Trump, meanwhile, is framing the issue as a matter of pressure on a government he says is not doing enough. For now, the dispute has moved beyond rhetoric into potential policy consequences for aid, trade and security cooperation between the two countries.
