Bogotá, Colombia - Colombia on Tuesday halted arms purchases from the US after President Donald Trump's administration decertified the South American country as an official ally in the battle against drug trafficking.

Trump on Monday accused his Colombian counterpart Gustavo Petro of overseeing a surge in cocaine production and trafficking to "all-time records."

As a result, the 79-year-old said he had "designated Colombia as having failed demonstrably to meet its drug control obligations."

Reacting to the news, Colombian Interior Minister Armando Benedetti told Blu Radio that "from this moment on...weapons will not be purchased from the United States."

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Trump's decertification of longtime ally Colombia – a first since 1997 – was not expected to significantly affect the millions of dollars provided by Washington each year to Bogotá to bolster its fight against drug cartels and guerrillas funded by cocaine trafficking.

Nevertheless, Petro hit back, saying that the Colombian military would end its dependence on "handouts" from the US

Since coming to power in 2022, the former guerrilla has championed a paradigm shift in the disastrous US-led war on drugs – away from forced eradication to focus on the social problems that fuel drug trafficking.

But cultivation of coca, the main ingredient in cocaine, has increased by about 70%, according to Colombian government and UN estimates.

Writing on X, Petro blamed the figures on "the increase in (cocaine) consumption worldwide, especially in Europe."

"The world needs to change its anti-drug policy because it has failed," he said, adding that cocaine consumption in the US had only stabilized "because they switched en masse to fentanyl consumption, which is 30 times more deadly."

The decertification comes as part of an increasingly aggressive US stance towards Latin American countries, particularly those with left-wing leaders.

Trump has ordered an alarming military buildup in Caribbean waters near Venezuela, as well as deadly attacks on boats that he claims without evidence were carrying drugs to the US.