Hardball: Forget Tariffs, Trump Is Cutting Off Most Precious Resource from Mexico - Water
The Trump administration has rejected a Mexican demand for water from the Colorado River amid a dispute over water along the border.
The denial of the request for water for Tijuana was the first time since a 1944 treaty took effect that the United States has refused a Mexican demand, according to The Hill.
The State Department said it was responding to Mexico’s long-running failure to provide the water it is obligated to send to south Texas from the Rio Grande.
“Mexico’s continued shortfalls in its water deliveries under the 1944 water-sharing treaty are decimating American agriculture — particularly farmers in the Rio Grande Valley,” the department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs posted on X.
“As a result, today for the first time, the U.S. will deny Mexico’s non-treaty request for a special delivery channel for Colorado River water to be delivered to Tijuana,” the post said.
The 1944 agreement called for the United States to send Colorado River water to western Mexico while Mexico sends Rio Grande water to Texas.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum called the denial an “important issue” that will be addressed through the International Boundary and Water Commission.
“There has been less water,” Sheinbaum said. “This is part of the problem, and that’s why this is important.”
The long-running dispute was supposed to be solved by an agreement between the Biden administration and Mexico that was reached in November, according to the Guardian.
However, the plight of south Texas farmers has remained so dire that last week, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced $280 million in relief funds for Rio Grande Valley farmers.
“Texas farmers are in crisis because of Mexico’s noncompliance,” Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said last week.
“I will work with the Trump administration to pressure Mexico into complying and to get water to Texas farmers,” he said.
The current five-year deal calls for about 490 billion gallons from the U.S. to flow to Mexico each year, while 570 billion gallons from Mexico head north, according to CNN.
But even last year, Mexico was far behind on its commitment, Maria Elena Giner, the U.S. commissioner of the International Boundary and Water Commission, said.
“We’ve only gotten about a year’s worth of water, and we’re already well into our fourth year,” she said.
The result is that Texas farmers have been suffering, Brian Jones, a farmer in Hidalgo County, Texas, and a Texas Farm Bureau board member claimed.
“Farmers in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas are either out of water or running out of water quickly,” he said
“The sugar industry is lost to Texas and will never return,” he said, due to the water crisis.
The Rio Grande Valley Sugar Growers sugar mill, the last in the state, closed down with officials blaming Mexico.
“For over 30 years, farmers in South Texas have been battling with Mexico’s failure to comply with the provisions of the 1944 Water Treaty,” it said when announcing the closure.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
