The US has placed sanctions on Colombia's left-wing president, Gustavo Petro, accusing him of failing to curb drug trafficking.
President Petro has allowed drug cartels to flourish and refused to stop this activity, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.
Sanctions have also been imposed on Colombia's Interior Minister Armando Benedetti, as well as Petro's wife and eldest son. They include barring them from accessing assets and properties they may have in the US.
Colombia was once a close ally of Washington's war on drugs, receiving hundreds of millions of dollars annually in military assistance. But Petro and Trump have clashed frequently since Trump's return to power.
Bessent stated that since Petro, a former guerrilla, came to power, cocaine production has exploded to the highest rate in decades, flooding the United States and poisoning Americans. He added that Trump was taking strong action and would not tolerate drug trafficking into the US.
The Treasury said Colombia was the world's top exporter of cocaine, posing a significant drug threat to the US.
In a separate statement, the state department announced it would not certify Colombia's counter-narcotics efforts.
Petro denied the accusations on social media, claiming he has been fighting drug trafficking for decades and helped the US to reduce its cocaine consumption.
A complete paradox - but not one step back, and never on our knees, he said.
Recently, the US military has increased its activity in the southern Caribbean, targeting vessels with alleged drug shipments. Trump also announced the suspension of payments and subsidies to Colombia following Petro's criticism of US actions in the region.
Imposing sanctions on a head of state is rare but has occurred with leaders of countries like Russia, North Korea, and Venezuela.
