MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Petro and Trump signal thaw after closed-door White House meeting amid talks on drugs, sanctions and Venezuela

Petro rated the meeting a “9 out of 10”

Colombian President Gustavo Petro said his first face-to-face meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington went better than expected, pointing to a tentative thaw after months of public insults and policy clashes that had pushed the bilateral relationship toward open confrontation.

The talks, held Tuesday at the White House, lasted roughly two hours and took place behind closed doors, without a joint statement or the usual welcoming ceremony. The low-key format underscored both the desire to cool tensions and the sensitivity of unresolved disputes.

Petro described the conversation as cordial and said ideological differences did not dominate the discussion. He also posted what he described as a handwritten note from Trump praising Colombia, a gesture that contrasted sharply with earlier rhetoric.

Trump later called the meeting “very good,” saying the two sides reached understandings on counter-narcotics measures and were also “working on other issues, including sanctions,” without providing details. In a separate media appearance, Petro rated the meeting a “9 out of 10.”

Substantively, Petro said drug trafficking dominated the agenda. He asked Washington to help pursue major traffickers operating outside Colombia — including in the United States — and sought U.S. mediation in his diplomatic dispute with Ecuador’s Daniel Noboa.

Venezuela also surfaced. The leaders discussed potential Venezuelan gas exports through Colombia and broader regional security questions, while he floated a role for state oil company Ecopetrol in energy-linked initiatives tied to Venezuela’s recovery.

The détente comes after a fraught 2025 marked by the U.S. revoking Petro’s visa and later imposing sanctions amid disputes that blended Gaza, migration, and drug policy, Reuters reported. On the eve of the meeting, EFE quoted Trump saying Petro had changed his attitude “a lot” and that he expected a good discussion focused on narcotics.

No concrete deal was announced publicly and that deep differences remain — including over Venezuela, where Petro has criticised the capture of Nicolás Maduro, and over how to curb cocaine flows from a country that remains the world’s top coca producer.