The U.S. administration has issued a new economic threat against Mexico, centering on a decades-old water-sharing agreement. Officials have warned that a five percent tariff will be applied to Mexican imports unless the neighboring nation releases a substantial volume of water to American farmers by year’s end.
At the heart of the dispute is a 1944 treaty governing shared waterways. The agreement requires Mexico to deliver a set amount of water from the Rio Grande to the United States over a five-year cycle, while the U.S. provides an annual allocation from the Colorado River to Mexico. The current contention involves a significant shortfall in Mexico’s deliveries over the past cycle, which officials claim is harming agricultural operations in Texas and other border states.
In a public statement, the U.S. president characterized Mexico’s delayed compliance as “very unfair” to American farmers and set a firm deadline for the release of hundreds of thousands of acre-feet of water. The threat of punitive tariffs was framed as a necessary response to secure this “much needed water.”
The Mexican government has previously cited severe drought conditions as a primary challenge to fulfilling its treaty obligations. Environmental analyses support the strain on the Rio Grande basin, noting that over half of the water consumed from the river is unsustainable, depleting reservoirs and aquifers. This scarcity has reportedly led to the loss of significant percentages of farmland in regions dependent on the river system.
This latest tension follows years of intermittent friction over the water treaty. Past congressional appeals have urged withholding funds from Mexico until water deliveries were made, arguing that the shortages threaten not only crops but also municipal water supplies and the quality of life in border communities. The agricultural impact in Texas has been pronounced, contributing to the closure of key processing facilities.
The tariff warning coincides with the announcement of a separate, multi-billion dollar federal aid package for American farmers. The majority of this relief is designated for producers of major row crops affected by recent trade disruptions, with a smaller portion set aside for specialty crop producers. Officials stated the assistance is intended to provide certainty to the agricultural sector.