U.S. President Donald Trump met with Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa in Florida on Saturday, ahead of an upcoming election where Noboa will face leftist candidate Luisa Gonzalez.
Noboa, 37, was elected in 2023 to complete his predecessor's term, pledging to tackle drug gangs that have destabilized the country. Trump has made the fight against fentanyl, which is responsible for around 70,000 deaths annually in the U.S., a central focus of his second term, implementing tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China as part of this initiative.
Noboa shared a photograph on social media with Trump, accompanied by his wife, but did not provide any commentary on their meeting. Noboa's press office described the encounter as friendly and private, stating, "We will be informing during the week of the authorized points."
White House officials confirmed the meeting prior to its occurrence but did not divulge further details. Earlier that day, Trump had a surprise meeting with the President of Finland, where they discussed bilateral relations and played a round of golf.
Noboa and his wife also attended Trump's inauguration in January. Ecuadorean officials have expressed interest in hosting a U.S. military base and pursuing a bilateral free trade agreement similar to those with Colombia and Peru.
As the son of one of Ecuador's wealthiest businessmen, Noboa has declared states of emergency to deploy the military on the streets and in prisons, introduced stricter sentencing, and celebrated the arrests of major gang leaders, claiming these measures reduced violent deaths by 15% last year.
He has stated that Ecuador will not accept deported migrants of other nationalities but will continue to welcome its citizens. Noboa criticized Venezuela's president for previously rejecting flights carrying Venezuelan migrants deported from the U.S.
Additionally, Noboa has partnered with Erik Prince, a prominent Trump supporter and founder of the private military firm Blackwater, to combat crime and narcoterrorism.
Mark Feierstein, a former senior official in the Biden and Obama administrations, noted that the timing of Noboa's meeting with Trump, just before elections, suggests that both parties believe it could benefit Noboa. "Trump’s standing is falling in the U.S. and crashing all over the world. Ecuador is a pro-U.S. country, but this kind of intervention could give Gonzalez a little boost," he said.
Noboa has advocated for bringing foreign military bases to Ecuador, and the Ecuadorean legislature is considering a measure that could lift a constitutional ban on such facilities, established in 2008 under former leftist President Rafael Correa.
The Biden administration has already enhanced U.S. security cooperation with Ecuador since Noboa took office, launching a bilateral defense working group in 2023. In February 2024, Noboa ratified two military cooperation agreements with the U.S., establishing a framework for American military personnel to operate in Ecuador and enabling joint naval operations to combat drug trafficking and other illicit activities.
Historically, the U.S. maintained a military base on the environmentally sensitive Galapagos Islands during World War II and another on the mainland for narcotics trafficking operations until 2009.