For months, United States President Donald Trump has called him a “sick man” and an “illegal drug leader”.
But on Tuesday, Trump welcomed his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, to the White House for their first face-to-face meeting in Washington, DC.
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Both leaders hailed the meeting as productive, while acknowledging the lingering tensions that divide them.
At a news conference after their meeting, Petro waved away questions about his rocky history with Trump, whom he has publicly accused of human rights violations.
Instead, he called the interaction “ a meeting between two equals who have different ways of thinking”.
“He didn’t change his way of his thinking. Neither did I. But how do you do an agreement, a pact? It’s not as between twin brothers. It’s between opponents,” Petro said.
Separately, Trump told reporters from the Oval Office that he felt good about the meeting. “I thought it was terrific,” he said.
On the agenda for the two leaders were issues including the fight against transnational drug trafficking and security in Latin America.
Here are five takeaways from Tuesday’s meeting.
A White House charm offensive
Over the past year, Trump has invited the media to participate in his meetings with foreign leaders, often holding news conferences with the visiting dignitaries in the Oval Office.
Not this time, however. The meeting between Trump and Petro lasted nearly two hours, all of it behind closed doors.
But the two leaders emerged with largely positive things to say about one another.
In a post on social media, Petro revealed that Trump had gifted him several items, including a commemorative photograph of their meeting accompanied by a signed note.
“Gustavo – a great honor. I love Colombia,” it read, followed by Trump’s signature.
In another post, Petro showed off a signed copy of Trump’s book, The Art of the Deal. On its title page, Trump had scrawled another note to Petro: “You are great.”
“Can someone tell me what Trump said in this dedication?” Petro wrote jokingly in Spanish on social media. “I don’t understand 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.
It was only six days into Trump’s second term, on January 26, 2025, that he and Petro began their feud, trading threats on social media over the fate of two US deportation flights.
Petro objected to the reported human rights violations facing the deportees. Trump, meanwhile, took Petro’s initial refusal to accept the flights as a threat to US “national security”. Petro ultimately backed down after Trump threatened steep sanctions on imported Colombian goods.
They continued to trade barbs in the months since. Petro, for instance, has condemned the deadly US attacks on boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, comparing the strikes with murder.
He has also criticised Trump for carrying out a US military offensive in Venezuela to abduct then-President Nicolas Maduro. That attack, Petro said, was tantamount to “kidnapping”.
Trump, meanwhile, stripped Petro of his US visa following the Colombian leader’s appearance at the United Nations General Assembly, where he criticised the US and briefly joined a pro-Palestinian protest.
The Trump administration also sanctioned Petro in October, blaming the left-wing leader for allowing “drug cartels to flourish”.
After removing Maduro from power on January 3, Trump offered a warning to Petro: he had better “watch his a**”. The statement was widely interpreted to be a threat of military action against Colombia.
But Trump and Petro appeared to have reached a turning point last month. On January 7, the two leaders held their first call together. Tuesday’s in-person meeting marked another first in their relationship.
Agreeing to disagree
Despite the easing tensions, the two leaders used their public statements after the meeting to reaffirm their differences.
Trump was the first to speak, holding a news conference in the Oval Office as he signed legislation to end a government shutdown.
The US president, a member of the right-wing Republican Party, used the appearance to reflect on the political tensions the two leaders had in the lead-up to the meeting.
“He and I weren’t exactly the best of friends, but I wasn’t insulted, because I’d never met him,” Trump told reporters.
He added that Tuesday’s meeting was nevertheless pleasant. “I didn’t know him at all, and we got along very well.”
Petro, meanwhile, held a longer news conference at the Colombian Embassy in Washington, DC, where he raised some points of divergence he had with Trump.
Among the topics he mentioned was Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, which the US has supported, and sustainable energy initiatives designed to be carbon neutral. Trump, in the past, has called the so-called green energy programmes a “scam”.
Petro, Colombia’s first left-wing leader, also reflected on his region’s history with colonialism and foreign intervention. He told reporters it was important that Latin America make decisions for itself, free from any outside “coercion”.
“ We don’t operate under blackmail,” he said at one point, in an apparent reference to Trump’s pressure campaigns.
Differing approach to combating drug trafficking
One of the primary points of contention, however, was Petro’s approach to combating drug trafficking.
Colombia is the world’s largest producer of cocaine, responsible for 68 percent of the global supply.
The Trump administration has used the fight against global drug trafficking as a justification for carrying out lethal military strikes in international waters and in Venezuela, despite experts condemning the attacks as illegal under international law.
It has also stripped Colombia of its certification as an ally in its global counter-narcotics operations.
Trump’s White House has said it will consider reversing that decision if Petro takes “more aggressive action to eradicate coca and reduce cocaine production and trafficking”.
But Petro has rejected any attempt to label him as soft on drug trafficking, instead touting the historic drug busts his government has overseen.
He made this argument yet again after Tuesday’s meeting, claiming that no other Colombian administration had done as much as his to fight cocaine trafficking.
Rather than take a militarised approach to destroying crops of coca, the raw ingredient for cocaine, Petro argued that he has had more success with voluntary eradication programmes.
This push, he said, succeeded in “getting thousands of peasant farmers to uproot the plant themselves”.
“These are two different methods, two different ways of understanding how to fight drug trafficking,” Petro said. “One that is brutal and self-interested, and what it ends up doing is promoting mafia powers and drug traffickers, and another approach, which is intelligent, which is effective.”
Petro maintained it was more strategic to go after top drug-ring leaders than to punish impoverished rural farmers by forcibly ripping up their crops.
“I told President Trump, if you want an ally in fighting drug trafficking, it’s going after the top kingpins,” he said.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro speaks during a news conference at the Colombian Embassy in Washington, DC, on February 3 [Jose Luis Magana/AP]
A Trumpian note
Tuesday’s meeting ultimately marked yet another high-profile reversal for Trump, who has a history of shifting his relationships with world leaders.
Last year, for instance, he lashed out at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a public Oval Office clash, only to warm to the wartime leader several months later.
But Colombia is quickly approaching a pivotal presidential election in May, which will see Petro’s left-wing coalition, the Historic Pact, seek to defend the presidency against an ascendant far right.
Petro himself cannot run for consecutive terms under Colombian law. But there is speculation that Tuesday’s detente with Trump may help Petro’s coalition avoid US condemnation ahead of the vote.
Colombia, after all, was until recently the largest recipient of US aid in South America, and it has long harboured close ties with the North American superpower. Straining those ties could therefore be seen as an election liability.
While Petro acknowledged his differences with Trump during his remarks, at times he expressed certain views that overlapped with the US president’s.
Like Trump has in the past, Petro used part of his speech on Tuesday to question the role of the UN in maintaining global security.
“ Did it not show incapacity? Isn’t a reform needed?” Petro asked, wondering aloud if there was “something superior to the United Nations that would bring humanity together better 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 squiggle.
On social media, he shared an adjustment he made to the cap’s slogan. A jagged, Sharpie-inked “S” amended the phrase to include the entire Western Hemisphere: “Make Americas Great Again.”
The beautiful country has been named the best retirement destination for 2026, beating Spain with affordable living and excellent healthcare
08:35, 29 Jan 2026Updated 08:37, 29 Jan 2026
Best country for pensioners to relocate to in 2026 has great healthcare – not Spain(Image: Getty)
If you’ve been considering spending your golden years overseas, there’s no shortage of things to weigh up. Thankfully, International Living’s yearly report analysed everything from living costs to how easy it is for Britons to make the move.
Crucial factors include visa stipulations, access to medical services, and the country’s weather conditions. After putting 195 nations under the microscope, the research crowned Greece as the ultimate retirement haven for 2026.
Greece boasts great weather, a thriving expat scene, and remarkably, pensioners can get a three-bedroom property with coastal vistas for just £900 a month.
International Insurance notes that Greece operates both state-funded healthcare and private medical facilities. Retirees can shell out roughly £220 monthly for private cover to access “consistently good” treatment.
“There are also high ratios of medical specialists for the population, and basic emergency care is free for everyone, even foreigners. Pharmacies, after-hours clinics, and community health centers provide more care options. In small towns and on remote islands, pharmacies are equipped to provide many medical services, including helping with small emergencies.”
Coming in at second place for 2026 relocations is Panama. The Central American nation features a bustling British community abroad, whilst healthcare comes in both public and private forms, with the latter boasting cutting-edge facilities and English-fluent medical professionals.
Favourite retirement hotspots like Spain, Portugal, and Italy also secured spots in the top 10.
When “The Great British Baking Show” returns for another season later this year, the tent will welcome a new judge alongside the freshest batch of competitors.
British cookbook author and TV personality Nigella Lawson will join the beloved baking competition as a judge, succeeding Prue Leith, who announced her departure from the series last week. “The Great British Baking Show” (alternatively titled “The Great British Bake-Off” in the United Kingdom) unveiled Lawson’s appointment Monday on Instagram. She will co-judge alongside longtime “Bake Show” fixture and bread expert Paul Hollywood.
“I’m uncharacteristically rather lost for words right now!” Lawson said in a joint Instagram post. “Of course it’s daunting to be following in the footsteps of Prue Leith and Mary Berry before her, great dames both, but I’m also bubbling with excitement.”
“The Great British Baking Show” first aired on the BBC in 2010, with Hollywood judging competitors’ bakes alongside Mary Berry. Berry departed the series when it moved from the BBC to commercial broadcaster Channel 4 and Leith began her tenure in 2017.
During her “Baking Show” days, Leith became known among fans and competitors for her affinity for boozy bakes and colorful fashion and accessories. Notably, she and Hollywood co-judged the series in its 11th season, which was filmed and aired amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Leith, announcing her exit, said “Bake Off has been a fabulous part of my life for the last nine years” and looked forward to a new chapter in her life.
“But now feels like the right time to step back (I’m 86 for goodness sake!), there’s so much I’d like to do, not least spend summers enjoying my garden,” she wrote, adding later in her caption that she believes her successor will “love [the show] as much as I have.”
Lawson, a former journalist and Margaret Thatcher cabinet member Nigel Lawson’s daughter, comes to “Baking Show” with some history with Channel 4. The broadcast aired her series “Nigella Bites” in the late 1990s and early aughts in tandem with the release of her book of the same name.
Her television credits also include hosting her series “Nigella Feasts,” “Nigella Express,” “Nigella Kitchen” and “Nigellissima” and judging on shows “Iron Chef America,” “The Taste” alongside Anthony Bourdain and “MasterChef Australia,” among others.
“The Great British Bake Off is more than a television programme, it’s a National Treasure – and it’s a huge honour to be entrusted with it,” she said on Monday. “I’m just thrilled to be joining the team and all the new bakers to come. I wish the marvellous Prue all the best, and am giddily grateful for the opportunity!”
