Colombian President Gustavo Petro sparred with President Donald Trump over the weekend when he briefly refused to accept the repatriation of Colombian citizens apprehended by immigration authorities in the United States. After Trump announced retaliatory measures that included a pause on all visa applications from citizens of the country along with a 25% tariff on Colombian exports, Petro promptly acquiesced, saying that he would send his own presidential plane to pick up the detainees.
One tool at Trump’s disposal that he refrained from immediately utilizing was U.S. aid to the country. The country received $377.5 million from American taxpayers in 2024, according to a Congressional Research Service report published in November. That marked a decline from $453.1 million in 2023, which the report authors noted came partly due to “concerns that President Petro’s drug policies have fueled record coca cultivation,” the plant that produces cocaine. However, former President Joe Biden’s State Department asked Congress to ramp the figure back up again in 2025, to $413 million.
A Congressional Budget Justification that State Department officials presented to lawmakers in 2024 offered some insight into how the funds were distributed. Officials notably indicated that funding priorities included aiding migrants with integration around the region, training Colombia’s military personnel, and suppressing the cocaine trade that has risen during Petro’s tenure in office. The full list of funding priorities included:
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- $135 million for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INCLE) to reduce the trade and flow of illegal narcotics;
- $128.5 million in Economic Support Fund assistance, which is aimed at economic development priorities such as infrastructure;
- $90.5 million for development assistance administered through USAID;
- $38.5 million in Foreign Military Financing (FMF), a program designed to provide grants or loans for purchasing defense equipment from U.S. manufacturers;
- $10 million to Nonproliferation, Anti-Terrorism, Demining and Related Programs (NADR) — a reduction from $21 million in 2023;
- $8.75 million for global health programs administered through USAID;
- $2 million for International Military Education and Training (IMET) activities, a program aimed at heightening professionalism among foreign military personnel and improving their ability to work with U.S. forces.
Lawmakers failed to agree on a budget for the current fiscal year before Trump entered office, opting instead to pass a series of continuing resolutions that funded the federal government on a temporary basis and moving their deadline to pass a permanent budget to March 13.
Trump did not mention the aid package in connection with Petro’s effort to rebuff his immigration policies, but its future is uncertain. The State Department issued a “stop-work” order for all foreign assistance on Jan. 24 in response to an executive order from the president calling on the department to review aid allocations within 90 days.
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