Members of the military patrol in Caldono, Cauca department, Colombia, on Friday, September 19, 2025. Photo: VCG

 
US President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that he would suspend financial aid and subsidies to Colombia, accusing the South American nation of failing to control its surging cocaine production, according to media reports. 

Trump labeled Colombian President Gustavo Petro "an illegal drug leader." He claimed Petro was encouraging drug production and the US wouldn't give any more payments or subsidies to the country, long the US' closest ally in the war on drugs, the Wall Street Journal reported. 

"It has become the biggest business in Colombia, by far, and Petro does nothing to stop it, despite large scale payments and subsidies from the USA that are nothing more than a long term rip off of America," Trump wrote, per WSJ. "As of today, these payments, or any other form of payment, or subsidies, will no longer be made to Colombia."

Shortly after the US president warned that Petro "better close up" drug operations "or the US will close them up for him, and it won't be done nicely," the US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the latest US strike on a vessel that was allegedly carrying "substantial amounts of narcotics," the AP said. 

He said the vessel was associated with a Colombian rebel group — the National Liberation Army, or ELN — that has been in conflict with Petro's government without providing any evidence for his assertions, per the AP. But he shared a brief video clip of a boat engulfed in flames after an explosion on Friday, the media report said. 

Colombia's Foreign Ministry condemned Trump's remarks on Sunday as offensive and a direct threat to its sovereignty, and vowed to seek international support in defense of Petro and the country's autonomy, Reuters said on Sunday. 

"These accusations represent an extremely serious act and undermine the dignity of the president of Colombians," it said in a statement, per Reuters. 

The escalating back-and-forth between the US and Colombia leaders came after Petro accused the US of murdering an innocent fisherman in an attack on a boat American authorities claimed was carrying illicit drugs, which reflected rising tensions in the region over the huge US military deployment in the Caribbean targeting Colombia's neighbor, Venezuela, the New York Times said. 

"US government officials have committed a murder and violated our sovereignty in territorial waters," Petro wrote on social media, per the NYT on Sunday.

In September, the US revoked Petro's visa after he joined a pro-Palestinian demonstration in New York and urged US soldiers to disobey Trump's orders, Reuters said. 

The US has provided about $210 million in assistance to Colombia this fiscal year, including about $31 million in agricultural support, according to data from the US Department of State, CNN said. 

It was not immediately clear which payments Trump was referring to Sunday, but the US is by far the largest funder of Colombia's security, providing billions of dollars every year, according to the media report. 

Since early September, Trump has targeted Latin American drug gangs and alleged traffickers in a controversial campaign that entail strikes on vessels allegedly moving drugs, the Wall Street Journal reported.