Venezuela is also likely to feature in the discussions, after U.S. forces captured former leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in January.
President Donald Trump will welcome Colombian President Gustavo Petro for a bilateral discussion at the White House in Washington on Feb. 3.
The two spoke over the phone in January, with Trump announcing the meeting shortly after and foreshadowing plans to sit down with the Colombian leader.
“It was a Great Honor to speak with … Petro, who called to explain the situation of drugs and other disagreements that we have had,” Trump wrote in a Jan. 7 Truth Social post. “I appreciated his call and tone and look forward to meeting him in the near future.”
Discussions are expected to include efforts to mitigate narcotrafficking, following Trump’s threats late last year that Petro “has to watch, because, you know, he’s got drug factories.”
“We know where they are,” Trump said. “He’d better close them up fast.”
Colombia remains a hotbed of coca leaf growing and cocaine production, long a primary source of the illegal drug. U.S. efforts to stem the flow date back decades.
A September 2025 presidential determination on major illicit drug-producing countries from the U.S. State Department described the state of the narcotic industry in Colombia.
“Coca cultivation and cocaine production have surged to all-time records under President Gustavo Petro, and his failed attempts to seek accommodations with narco-terrorist groups only exacerbated the crisis,” the presidential determination said.
“For this reason, I have designated Colombia as having failed demonstrably to meet its drug control obligations,” Trump said in the determination.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has recommended more cooperation between Colombian and U.S. officials to bring narcotraffickers to justice.
Petro later rejected the allegations with a lengthy social media post, emphasizing his efforts to remove 30,000 hectares of cocaine plants and replace them with other agricultural products.
“I ordered the largest seizure of cocaine in world history,” Petro posted on X on Jan. 5. “I stopped the growth of coca leaf crops and began a great voluntary crop substitution plan by the coca-growing peasant.”
Trump has prioritized dismantling international drug trafficking networks with a series of actions since taking office for a second term.
