The upcoming EU–CELAC summit, intended to revive cooperation between Europe and Latin America, is instead highlighting growing transatlantic fractures, as top European leaders skip the event amid renewed geopolitical tension driven by U.S. President Donald Trump’s foreign policy posture.
Set to take place in Bogotá, the summit brings together members of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the European Union. But this year’s gathering — only the third of its kind in over a decade — will see the absence of key European heads of state, including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Annalena Baerbock, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Their absence, diplomats say, reflects “strategic caution” as Latin American governments increasingly align or clash with Washington’s new hardline stance on trade, migration, and climate policy.
A Diplomatic Chill Beneath the Surface
European officials had hoped the summit would reaffirm EU–Latin American trade and environmental cooperation, particularly following the collapse of the Mercosur–EU trade deal earlier this year. Instead, the meeting has been overshadowed by Trump’s escalating rhetoric toward Colombia and Washington’s renewed pressure on regional governments to isolate Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro.
Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro, hosting the summit, accused the U.S. of “treating Latin America like an appendage” and called for a “sovereign path independent of superpower politics.”
