Latest news with #InternationalBoundaryandWaterCommission
Int'l Business Times
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Int'l Business Times
Mexico Makes Water Payment To U.S. After Trump's Sanctions Threat, But Still Far From Total
Mexico made the first payment of water owed to the United States under a 80-year-old treaty, but the amount is still far from the total owed to its northern neighbor. According to Border Report, the Claudia Sheinbaum administration sent a total of 56,750 acre feet of water through a "transfer of ownership in Amistad Dam" on April 30, meaning that the country gave part of the water that was listed as its own in the reservoir. A spokesman for the U.S. Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission confirmed the payment was made. However, the figure is still far from the 1.14 million acre-feet owed by Mexico. The country has until October to pay the debt. So far it has paid a little over 600,000 acre-feet in about four and a half years, so it would have to rapidly increase deliveries if it has any hopes of meeting the deadline. The decision to increase water deliveries from the Sheinbaum administration took place less than a day after Trump threatened to impose sanctions, saying there will be "an immediate delivery of a number of millions of cubic meters" of water to the region." Mexico's water commission CONAGUA has constantly argued that the country is not unwilling to comply, just unable to do so. "We want to comply with the treaty – from which both countries benefit greatly. But we are in a drought situation made worse in recent years due to factors such as climate change," a Mexican official told Border Report in late April. That's why The New York Times warned that while the concession defused bilateral tensions, it could "revive civil unrest triggered by previous water payments to the United States." It recalled that in 2020 farmers seized control of a dam in the border region and attempted to cease water deliveries to the U.S. Originally published on Latin Times Donald trump Mexico Water
Epoch Times
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Epoch Times
Mexico Agrees to Send More Water to Texas Amid Tariff Pressure
Mexico has agreed to immediate water deliveries to Texas farmers in an effort to resolve a growing dispute over a decades-old water-sharing treaty, which has strained relations with the United States and triggered threats of tariffs. The Mexican and U.S. governments on Monday The 1944 Water Treaty, which governs water sharing between the two nations through a network of interconnected dams and reservoirs, requires Mexico to deliver 1.75 million acre-feet of water to the United States from the Rio Grande every five years. In return, the United States provides Mexico with 1.5 million acre-feet from the Colorado River. Ideally, Mexico is expected to deliver an average of 350,000 acre-feet of water each year under the treaty. However, according to data from the International Boundary and Water Commission—an agency composed of officials from both governments that oversees enforcement of the agreement—Mexico delivered just over 400,000 acre-feet between October 2020 and October 2024, amounting to less than 30 percent of its required quota for the current five-year cycle. 'Mexico finally meeting the water needs of Texas farmers and ranchers under the 1944 Water Treaty is a major win for American agriculture,' U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said Monday in a statement. 'After weeks of negotiations with Mexican cabinet officials alongside the Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, we secured an agreement to give Texas producers the water they need to thrive.' The agreement helped prevent the situation from spiraling into a full-blown trade conflict. Earlier this month, U.S. President Donald Trump accused Mexico of 'stealing' Texas farmers' water and threatened additional tariffs if the water issue was not resolved. Related Stories 4/27/2025 4/24/2025 'Mexico has been stealing the water from Texas farmers,' Trump Hours after Trump's comments, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum responded on X, acknowledging that her country had fallen behind on its water deliveries. She attributed the shortfall to a three-year drought but said Mexico had proposed a comprehensive plan to U.S. diplomats aimed at satisfying both countries' needs. 'To the extent of water availability, Mexico has been complying,' she On Monday, the U.S. State Department Agricultural groups in Texas, who have long complained about Mexico's water debt, welcomed the deal. The Texas Farm Bureau, the largest organization representing farmers and ranchers across the state, called the short-term water relief a 'crucial first step.' 'Texas farmers and ranchers in the Rio Grande Valley are grateful Mexico is finally being held accountable for its non-compliance,' According to the organization, prolonged water shortages had already forced the closure of the state's only sugar mill, as sugarcane growers could no longer irrigate their fields. Other water-hungry crops, including citrus and cotton, were also at serious risk. 'The immediate deliveries of water and the deliveries of water in the next six months will be critical for farmers and ranchers who have long suffered because of Mexico's non-compliance,' Boening said. Water shortages have also taken a heavy toll on farmers on the other side of the border, where tensions over treaty compliance had sparked unrest. In September 2020, near the end of the previous five-year cycle, more than 2,000 protesters in the border state of Chihuahua stormed the La Boquilla dam on the Conchos River in an attempt to stop water from being released to the United States. The confrontation turned deadly when two people were killed as Mexican military police reined in to retake the facility.
New York Times
29-04-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Mexico to Give U.S. More Water From Their Shared Rivers
Mexico has agreed to send water to the United States and temporarily channel more water to the country from their shared rivers, a concession that appeared to defuse a diplomatic crisis sparked by yearslong shortages that left Mexico behind on its treaty-bound contribution of water from the borderlands. Earlier this month, President Trump threatened additional tariffs and other sanctions against Mexico over the water debt, amounting to about 420 billion gallons. In a social media post, Mr. Trump accused Mexico of 'stealing' water from Texas farmers by not meeting its obligations under a 1944 treaty that mediates the distribution of water from three rivers the two countries share: the Rio Grande, the Colorado and the Tijuana. In an agreement announced jointly by Mexico and the United States on Monday, Mexico will immediately transfer some of its water reserves and will give the country a larger share of the flow of water from the Rio Grande through October. The concession from Mexico averted the threat of more punishing tariffs and diplomatic enmity with the United States amid the rollout of Mr. Trump's new trade policies. But fulfilling the agreement is expected to significantly strain Mexico's farmlands and could revive civil unrest triggered by previous water payments to the United States. Much of the Mexican borderlands are enduring extreme drought conditions, according to Mexico's meteorological agency and water commission, and Mexico's water reserves are at historic lows. Mexico's president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has taken a conciliatory approach in negotiations with the Trump administration. Hours after Mr. Trump's threat of tariffs over the water dispute earlier this month, Ms. Sheinbaum acknowledged that her country had fallen short of its treaty commitments, citing the extreme drought and saying that Mexico had been complying 'to the extent of water availability.' In a statement on Monday, the State Department lauded Ms. Sheinbaum 'for her personal involvement' in negotiating the agreement, and spoke of 'water scarcity affecting communities on both sides of the border.' A statement from the Mexican foreign ministry on the agreement noted that the United States had agreed not to seek a renegotiation of the 1944 water treaty. Longstanding tensions over water have simmered between Mexico and the United States. In 2020, those tensions exploded into violence in Mexico, as farmers rioted and seized control of a dam in the border region in an effort to shut off water deliveries to the United States. Rising temperatures and drought have made the water from rivers Mexico and the United States share all the more valuable. According to data provided by the International Boundary and Water Commission, which mediates water disputes between the two countries, Mexico has fallen well short of its treaty commitments on water delivery in the last five years. Between October 2020 and October 2024, Mexico provided just over 400,000 acre-feet of water, far less than the roughly 1.4 million acre-feet called for under treaty stipulations. The debt has only grown since. Emiliano Rodríguez Mega contributed reporting from Mexico City.
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Mexican govt negotiating with states about water they can send to US under deal, Sheinbaum says
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's government is negotiating an agreement with states in the north of the country to determine how much water they can send to the United States to help make up its shortfall under a treaty that has strained U.S. relations, President Claudia Sheinbaum said in a morning press conference Tuesday. The 81-year-old water-sharing treaty with the U.S. has prompted tariff threats by President Donald Trump. Under the 1944 treaty that outlines water-sharing between the two countries through a network of interconnected dams and reservoirs, Mexico must send 1.75 million acre-feet of water to the U.S. from the Rio Grande every five years. An acre-foot of water is enough to fill about half an Olympic swimming pool. The treaty's current five-year cycle is up in October, but Mexico has sent less than 30% of the required water, according to data from the International Boundary and Water Commission.
Reuters
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Mexican govt negotiating with states about water they can send to US under deal, Sheinbaum says
MEXICO CITY, April 15 (Reuters) - Mexico's government is negotiating an agreement with states in the north of the country to determine how much water they can send to the United States to help make up its shortfall under a treaty that has strained U.S. relations, President Claudia Sheinbaum said in a morning press conference Tuesday. The 81-year-old water-sharing treaty with the U.S. has prompted tariff threats by President Donald Trump. Under the 1944 treaty that outlines water-sharing between the two countries through a network of interconnected dams and reservoirs, Mexico must send 1.75 million acre-feet of water to the U.S. from the Rio Grande every five years. An acre-foot of water is enough to fill about half an Olympic swimming pool. The treaty's current five-year cycle is up in October, but Mexico has sent less than 30% of the required water, according to data from the International Boundary and Water Commission.
