President Donald Trump sharpened his foreign-policy rhetoric Monday, leveling blistering accusations at Colombia’s leadership while again pressing the case for U.S. acquisition of Greenland, remarks that came amid heightened international scrutiny following a U.S. military operation that led to the detention of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife.
Speaking with reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump fielded questions about the Venezuela operation and its regional implications before pivoting to Colombia, where he delivered an unusually blunt assessment of President Gustavo Petro’s government, reports Fox News.
“Colombia’s very sick too, run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States. And he’s not going to be doing it very long. Let me tell you,” Trump said.
In the wake of the U.S.’s incursion into Venezuela, President Trump on Sunday threatened Colombia over its role in drug flows, said Cuba is ready to fall and repeated his position that the U.S. needs to control Greenland for its own national security.
Trump recently has shown a… pic.twitter.com/DTuoSlBZc1
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) January 5, 2026
The president went further, alleging that Petro presides over “cocaine mills and cocaine factories,” language that immediately drew attention for its severity and implications.
Pressed by a reporter who asked, “So there will be an operation by the U.S. in Colombia?” Trump replied, “It sounds good to me,” a response that appeared to leave the door open to future U.S. action without offering specific details.
Trump then shifted to the Arctic, returning to a theme he has raised repeatedly in recent years: Greenland’s strategic value to the United States. The island, an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, sits astride key North Atlantic and Arctic routes that have taken on increased military and economic significance.
“We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,” Trump said. “We need Greenland from a national security situation. It’s so strategic.”
The comments prompted swift and coordinated pushback from European leaders. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen issued a pointed statement emphasizing existing defense arrangements and warning against what she characterized as threats toward a close ally.
“The Kingdom of Denmark – and thus Greenland – is part of NATO and is thus covered by the alliance’s security guarantee. We already have a defense agreement between the Kingdom and the USA today, which gives the USA wide access to Greenland. And we have invested significantly on the part of the Kingdom in the security of the Arctic,” Frederiksen said in a press release.
“I would therefore strongly urge that the U.S. stop the threats against a historically close ally and against another country and people who have said very clearly that they are not for sale,” she added.
