The relationship between the United States and Colombia has been at its most critical points for a couple of months. The president of the United States, Donald Trump, and his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, have been involved in fights over the social network x that have ended in threats of tariffs and even Petro’s accession to the Clinton list.
Now it seems that a new chapter has been added to the breaks in the relationship between the two nations. It is due to the possibility that Trump withdraws Colombia’s designation as a Major Extra-NATO Ally.
Although the decision is not yet official, the mere possibility has raised alarms in diplomatic circles, where it is interpreted as one of the most forceful messages that the White House could send to express its disagreement with the management of President Gustavo Petro and with the deterioration that bilateral relations have suffered in the last year.
This status was received by the country a little over three years ago, when then-president Joe Biden granted that distinction to the government of Iván Duque.
What does status mean?
The category of Major Ally outside NATO functions, above all, as a political credential: a message of strategic trust from Washington towards a select group of countries with which it maintains privileged cooperation in matters of security and defense. Only 21 nations in the world have this recognition, including Japan, Israel, South Korea, Morocco and New Zealand. In Latin America, only Argentina, Brazil and Colombia have managed to access that distinction.
Created by the United States Congress in 1987, this status was designed to strengthen collaboration with key partners that are not part of the Atlantic Alliance. The list of special allies moved again this week, after President Trump decided to add Saudi Arabia.
