U.S. President Donald Trump defended on Friday that his upcoming meeting at the White House with Colombian leader Gustavo Petro will turn out «phenomenal».
The president's comment came as he was walking towards the presidential helicopter on his way to Florida, where he will spend the weekend, when a journalist asked him what would happen if his meeting with the Colombian leader went badly.
The Republican has been optimistic in recent hours about his upcoming meeting with Petro at the White House in early February and added that the phone call they had this week was «really good».
Trump said that in the past, Petro has been «very hostile» towards him and the United States, but he is willing to reconcile, as he claims he has done on previous occasions with other figures.
The February meeting between the two leaders marks a turning point in the relationship between the two nations, which has been tense, mainly because the Republican has repeatedly accused Petro, without evidence, of being a supposed drug trafficking leader.
Colombia, for its part, was one of the countries that most strongly criticized the military action of the United States in Venezuela on January 3 during the capture of President Nicolás Maduro, calling the act before the Organization of American States (OAS) a threat «to the sovereignty of the region».
Petro will return to the United States in February after Trump revoked his visa in September 2025 following his appearance at the United Nations General Assembly, where the Colombian strongly criticized the Republican's policies and even joined a protest in favor of Gaza in the streets of New York.
