WATCH LIVE: Colombian President Petro is expected to hold a press conference after the Trump meeting

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is scheduled to welcome Colombian President Gustavo Petro to the White House on Tuesday for talks just weeks after threatening military action against the South American nation and accusing the leader of pumping cocaine into the United States.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro is expected to hold a press conference at 3:30 p.m. EST. Watch the live stream in our video player above.

US administration officials say the meeting will focus on regional security cooperation and anti-drug efforts. Trump indicated on Monday that Petro — who has continued to criticize Trump and the U.S. operation to arrest Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro — appeared more willing to work with his administration to stem the flow of illicit drugs from Colombia.

Read more: Trump calls Colombia’s Petro an “illegal drug lord” and cuts US aid to the country

“Somehow after the Venezuelan raid, he became very nice,” Trump told reporters. “He changed his attitude a lot.”

However, tension between the two leaders overshadowed the meeting, even as Trump sought to downplay any friction on the eve of the visit.

The conservative Trump and the leftist Pietro are ideologically far apart, but both leaders share a penchant for bombast and unpredictability. This sets the stage for a White House visit with an air of possibility that anything could happen.

In recent days, Petro continued his criticism of the US president, describing Trump as an “accomplice in genocide” in the Gaza Strip, while stressing that Maduro’s arrest was a kidnapping.

Before leaving for Washington, Petro called on Colombians to take to the streets of Bogota during the White House meeting. He plans to hold a press conference at the Colombian Embassy in Washington after the meeting with Trump.

Historically, Colombia has been an ally of the United States. Over the past 30 years, the United States has worked closely with Colombia, the world’s largest cocaine producer, to arrest drug traffickers, repel rebel groups, and promote economic development in rural areas.

But relations between the two leaders have been strained by Trump’s mobilization of US forces in the region to launch unprecedented deadly military strikes targeting suspected drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific. At least 126 people were killed in 36 known raids.

In October, the Republican Trump administration announced that it would impose sanctions on Petro, his family and a member of his cabinet over accusations of involvement in the global drug trade.

The Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Petro; his wife Veronica del Socorro Alcocer Garcia; his son Nicolas Fernando Pietro Burgos; And Colombian Interior Minister Armando Alberto Benedetti.

The sanctions, which had to be lifted to allow Petro to travel to Washington this week, came after the US administration announced in September that it would add Colombia to the list of countries not cooperating in the drug war for the first time in three decades.

Then came the audacious military operation last month to arrest Maduro and his wife to face federal drug conspiracy charges, a move that Petro strongly condemned. After Maduro was ousted, Trump ominously warned Colombia and warned Petro that he could be next.

Trump said of Petro last month that Colombia “is run by a sick man who loves to make cocaine and sell it to the United States.” “And he won’t for long, let me tell you.”

But a few days later, tensions eased somewhat after a phone call between the two leaders. In their hour-long conversation, Petro explained “the drug situation and other controversies,” Trump said. Trump invited Petro to visit the White House.

Trump on two occasions used the normally scripted leaders’ meetings to deliver a strongly worded rebuke of his counterparts to the press.

Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last February for showing insufficient gratitude for American support for Ukraine. Trump also used a meeting at the White House last May to forcefully confront South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, accusing the country, in the presence of journalists, of failing to address Trump’s baseless claims about the systematic killing of white farmers.

It was not clear whether the meeting between Trump and Petro would include a segment in front of the cameras.