Mexico will send more water to US but not immediately, President Sheinbaum says

Mexico Proposes Staggered Water Delivery to U.S. Amid Trump’s Tariff Threats

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced Tuesday that Mexico plans to deliver water to the United States in installments, beginning with an initial release this month followed by additional deliveries in coming years. The proposal comes as President-elect Donald Trump threatens to impose a 5% tariff on Mexican imports if the country does not immediately fulfill its water delivery obligations under a decades-old treaty.

“We have the best intention to deliver the amount of water that is owed from previous years,” Sheinbaum said during a press briefing in Mexico City. She explained that Mexico has fallen behind on its water commitments primarily due to persistent drought conditions and infrastructure limitations affecting the Rio Grande River basin.

The water-sharing issue centers around a 1944 treaty that requires Mexico to provide 1.7 million acre-feet of water to the United States from six tributaries every five years, averaging approximately 350,000 acre-feet annually. An acre-foot represents the volume of water needed to cover one acre of land to a depth of one foot—roughly 326,000 gallons.

Trump took to social media on Monday to pressure Mexico, claiming the country’s accumulated water debt over the past five years is harming agricultural operations in Texas. “The U.S needs Mexico to release 200,000 acre-feet of water before December 31st, and the rest must come soon after,” Trump wrote. “As of now, Mexico is not responding, and it is very unfair to our U.S. Farmers who deserve this much needed water.”

This marks Trump’s second threat regarding the water dispute this year. In April, he similarly warned of imposing 5% tariffs on Mexican imports, accusing the country of violating the water-sharing agreement.

The ongoing water conflict highlights the complex resource management challenges in the arid U.S.-Mexico border region, where climate change has intensified drought conditions in recent years. Agricultural interests on both sides of the border compete for increasingly scarce water resources, with American farmers in Texas particularly dependent on consistent water deliveries for irrigation.

Water management specialists note that the Rio Grande basin has experienced below-average precipitation patterns in recent years, complicating Mexico’s ability to meet its treaty obligations while satisfying domestic water needs. Mexican officials have previously pointed to severe drought conditions affecting reservoirs and waterways that supply both countries.

The dispute represents an early foreign policy challenge for Sheinbaum, who took office in October as Mexico’s first female president. Her administration must balance diplomatic relations with its largest trading partner against domestic water security concerns, particularly for agricultural communities in northern Mexico that rely on the same water sources.

Mexican and U.S. officials are scheduled to meet virtually Tuesday to discuss the proposal, with both sides hoping to avoid an escalation that could disrupt the $677 billion annual trade relationship between the neighboring countries.

Water rights experts suggest that any agreement will likely need to account for climate realities while satisfying agricultural stakeholders on both sides of the border. Previous disputes over the 1944 treaty have generally been resolved through diplomatic channels, though rising temperatures and increasing water scarcity may complicate future negotiations.

The water-sharing treaty has generally functioned for nearly 80 years despite occasional tensions, with both countries recognizing the mutual benefits of cooperative resource management along their shared 1,954-mile border.