For months, US President Donald Trump called him a “sick man” and an “illegal drug kingpin.”

But on Tuesday, Trump welcomed Colombian President Gustavo Petro to the White House for his first in-person meeting in Washington, DC.

Both leaders praised the meeting as productive while acknowledging long-standing tensions between them.

At a news conference after the meeting, Petro dodged questions about his troubled history with Trump, whom he has publicly accused of violating human rights.

Instead, he calls the interaction “a meeting between two equals with different ways of thinking.”

“He hasn’t changed his way of thinking. Neither have I. But how do you come to an agreement, a deal? This is not between twin brothers. This is between adversaries,” Petro said.

Separately, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he felt good about the meeting. “I think it’s awesome,” he said.

The two leaders’ agenda includes issues such as combating transnational drug trafficking and Latin American security.

Here are five takeaways from Tuesday’s meeting.

White House charm offensive

Over the past year, Trump has invited the media to his meetings with foreign leaders, often holding press conferences with visiting dignitaries in the Oval Office.

Not this time, though. The meeting between Trump and Petro lasted nearly two hours, all of which took place behind closed doors.

But the two leaders have mostly positive things to say about each other.

Petro revealed in a social media post that Trump gifted him several items, including a commemorative photos their meeting and accompanied by a signed note.

“Gustavo – a great honor. I love Colombia,” it read, followed by Trump’s signature.

in another postalOn the same day, Petro showed Trump’s signed book “The Art of the Deal.” On its title page, Trump scrawled another note to Petro: “You are great.”

“Can anyone tell me what Trump said in this speech?” Petro jokingly wrote in Spanish on social media. “I don’t know much English.”

A turning point in a tense relationship?

Petro’s joke appeared to be a cheeky nod to his notoriously rocky relationship with Trump.

On January 26, 2025, just six days into Trump’s second term, he and Petro started their feudthreats were made on social media over the fate of two U.S. deportation flights.

Petro took exception to reports that deportees faced human rights abuses. Trump, meanwhile, viewed Petro’s initial refusal to accept the flights as a threat to U.S. “national security.” Oil companies finally backed down after Trump threatened tough sanctions on Colombian imports.

In the months since, they continued to attack each other. Take the Petro coin as an example, Condemns deadly attack on U.S. On board ships in the Caribbean and Pacific, strikes are compared to murder.

He also criticized Trump for launching a U.S. military offensive in Venezuela to kidnap then-President Nicolas Maduro. Petro said the attack was tantamount to “kidnapping.”

Meanwhile, Trump canceled Petro’s U.S. visa after the Colombian leader attended the U.N. General Assembly, where Petro criticized the U.S. and briefly participated in pro-Palestinian protests.

The Trump administration also sanctioned Petro in October, accusing the left-wing leader of allowing “drug cartels to flourish.”

After ousting Maduro from power on January 3, Trump warned Petro that he had better “watch his a**.” The statement was widely interpreted as a threat to take military action against Colombia.

But Trump and Petro seemed to have reached a turning point last month. On January 7, the leaders of the two countries had their first phone call. Tuesday’s in-person meeting marked another first in their relationship.

Agree or disagree

Although tensions have eased, the two leaders reiterated their differences in public statements issued after the meeting.

Trump was the first to speak, holding a news conference in the Oval Office to sign legislation to end the government shutdown.

The US president, a member of the right-wing Republican Party, used the appearance to reflect on political tensions ahead of a meeting between the two leaders.

“He and I are not the best of friends, but I’m not insulted because I’ve never met him,” Trump told reporters.

He added that Tuesday’s meeting was still enjoyable. “I didn’t know him at all, but we got along great.”

Meanwhile, Petro held a lengthy news conference at the Colombian embassy in Washington, D.C., where he raised some of his differences with Trump.

Among the topics he addressed were Israel’s U.S.-backed genocidal war in Gaza and sustainable energy initiatives aimed at achieving carbon neutrality. Trump has called so-called green energy plans a “hoax” in the past.

Petro, Colombia’s first left-wing leader, also reflected on the region’s history of colonialism and foreign intervention. He told reporters that it was important for Latin America to make its own decisions, without any external “coercion.”

“We will not operate under blackmail,” he said at one point, an apparent reference to Trump’s pressure campaign.

Different approaches to combating drug trafficking

One of the main points of contention, however, is Petro’s approach to fighting drug trafficking.

Colombia is the world’s largest producer of cocaine, accounting for 68% of global supply.

The Trump administration has used a crackdown on global drug trafficking as an excuse to launch deadly military strikes in international waters and in Venezuela, even as experts condemn the attacks as illegal under international law.

It also decertified Colombia as an ally in its global anti-drug campaign.

Trump’s White House has explain It would consider overturning the decision if the oil company takes “more aggressive action to eradicate coca and reduce the production and trafficking of cocaine.”

But Petro has rejected any attempts to label him weak on drug trafficking, instead touting the historic anti-narcotics campaign his government has overseen.

He repeated that argument after Tuesday’s meeting, claiming that no other Colombian government has done more to combat cocaine trafficking than his.

Instead of taking a militarized approach to destroying the coca crop, the raw material for cocaine, Petro believes he has had greater success with voluntary eradication programs.

The effort, he said, succeeded in “allowing thousands of farmers to uproot their factories themselves.”

“These are two different approaches, two different ways of understanding how to fight drug trafficking,” Petro said. “One is cruel and selfish and ultimately empowers the Mafia and drug traffickers, while the other is sensible and effective.”

Petro insists that pursuing drug gang leaders is more strategic than punishing poor farmers by forcibly destroying their crops.

“I told President Trump, if you want allies in the fight against drug trafficking, go after the top guys,” he said.

trump notes

Tuesday’s meeting ultimately marked another high-profile shift for Trump, who has a history of altering relationships with world leaders.

Last year, for example, he lashed out at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a public clash in the Oval Office, only to warm to the wartime leader months later.

But Colombia is about to hold crucial presidential elections in May, when Petro’s left-wing coalition Historic Pact will seek to defend the presidency against the rise of the far right.

Under Colombian law, Petro himself cannot run for consecutive elections. But there is speculation that Tuesday’s detente with Trump could help Petro’s coalition avoid U.S. condemnation ahead of the vote.

After all, Colombia was until recently the largest recipient of U.S. aid in South America and has long maintained close ties with the North American superpower. Therefore, straining these relationships may be seen as an electoral liability.

While Petro acknowledged his differences with Trump in his speech, he also at times expressed views that overlapped with those of the U.S. president.

Like Trump in the past, Petro questioned the role of the United Nations in maintaining global security in his speech on Tuesday.

“Isn’t this a sign of incompetence? Doesn’t it require reform?” Petro asked, wondering aloud if there was “something better than the United Nations that could better bring humanity together in a better way”.

But when it came to donning Trump’s signature “Make America Great Again” baseball cap, Petro drew a line — or, rather, a curve.

On social media, he shared the tweaks he made to his hat slogan. A jagged marker ink “S” modifies the sentence to include the entire Western Hemisphere: “Make America Great Again.”