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President 'embraces war of words with Trump'
Cape Argus
|October 23, 2025
DONALD Trump's decision to freeze millions in aid to Colombia and brand its president a drug trafficker has smashed longstanding ties and could yet shake up the country's 2026 presidential race.
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With the US president's threat of “significant” punitive tariffs looming, Colombian businesses are panicking and investors are spooked.
But one person seems unfazed by the row between Colombia and its largest trading partner: Colombian President Gustavo Petro.
The ex-guerrilla-turned-politico has embraced the battle with Trump, using it as a tool to stir his base and, he hopes, Colombian voters ahead of the May presidential elections.
He has recalled Colombia's ambassador from Washington, attacked Trump in lengthy social media posts and at the UN - and embraced evermore nationalist rhetoric.
“President Trump doesn't like us being out of his control,” he wrote on X this week, while claiming the threat of a US invasion and stating “they want a coup against me”.
Visiting New York last month, he urged the US military to refuse Trump’s orders, earning him a US visa ban.
This story is from the October 23, 2025 edition of Cape Argus.
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