Trump's Colombia tariffs would flip US policy on drugs, trade

22/10/2025 6:28

U.S. President Donald Trump's threat this week to slap Colombia with tariffs over its drug policy marked a sharp escalation in his feud with a country that has long been one of Washington's closest Latin American allies.



It was also a rejection of an established idea about countering the narcotics business: that free trade can make legitimate exports more attractive than drug trafficking. On Sunday, Trump said he would raise tariffs and stop financial aid for Bogota, and Colombia said on Monday it had recalled its ambassador from Washington. Most imports from Colombia to the U.S. currently face a 10% tariff, the baseline level Trump has imposed on many countries.



Trump also called leftist Colombian President Gustavo Petro an "illegal drug leader," after Petro accused the U.S. of committing "murder" and said the U.S. had fired at a boat off Venezuela that belonged to a "humble family," not a rebel group. Tensions between the U.S. and many countries in Latin America

have been escalating for weeks, as the American military has sharply increased its military presence in the southern Caribbean and struck vessels in international waters that it alleges to be carrying drugs, without offering evidence.