The United States rejects Mexico's first special water delivery request – Country
The U.S. has denied Mexico’s unprocessed requirements for special delivery channels for Colorado River water and will be delivered to Tijuana, the U.S. State Department said.
“Under the 1944 Water Fusion Treaty, Mexico's continued lack of moisture is weakening American agriculture, especially farmers in the Rio Grande Valley,” the department's Western Hemisphere Affairs Bureau said in a post on X on Thursday.
“So, today, the U.S. will deny the untreated requirement for Mexico's special delivery channels for the Colorado River water for the first time,” the department added.
According to a 1944 treaty that governs the distribution of water on the Rio Grande and Colorado Rivers, Mexico must transfer water to the United States every five years from two dams shared by the state at the Texas border.
The treaty provides a five-year cycle for the waters, which is scheduled to end in October 2025, but Mexico lags behind due to the drought.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said the issue is important and is being resolved.
Sheinbaum commented on Thursday: “This is being addressed by (National Water Administration) Conagua and CILA (International Borders and Water Commission), which is responsible for reviewing the treaty.”
“There is less water. This is part of the problem,” she told reporters.
On Wednesday, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said he hosted farmers and ranchers in Rio Grand Valley, adding that their “situation is horrible.”
Get national news
For news that affects Canada and around the world, please sign up for breaking news alerts that were sent directly to you at the time.
“Mexico refuses to comply with its obligations under the 1944 Water Treaty, even if we exceed our own obligations, even if we exceed Mexican water’s obligations, we must provide water to the United States.
“Last time in Congress, I introduced and proposed the first legislation ever to impose sanctions on Mexico and refuse to comply with my obligations,” Cruz continued. “I will do this again soon, but I am also working with the Trump administration to have immediate consequences for Mexico.”
He concluded: “Every choice is on the table, not only withholding aid, but we have been providing water to Mexico, which can be done without violating our own obligations under the treaty.”
Earlier this month, the Water, Agriculture and Rural Affairs Commission voted in support of the U.S. State Department to ensure Mexico meets its obligation to deliver water to the U.S.
The committee heard testimony from officials in the Rio Grande Valley, showing that Mexico's failure to supply water has had an impact on local farmers and a stagnant growth.
“This really creates a lot of serious problems, and it's from El Paso to Brownsville,” Texas Senator Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa said at the hearing.
“The reality is that even commercially, the growth of the valley is shocked because we can no longer issue builders’ licenses because there is no water,” Hinojosa said. “Hopefully the current Trump administration will be more aggressive when trying to solve this problem.”
State Senator Charles Perry had previously said it would be great if the Trump administration could include a water treaty in its tariff negotiations. ”
“It would be nice to release water in the 1944 treaty so that we can get some relief in the valley,” Perry said.
This is not the only water problem that Mexico and the United States have faced in the past few months.
Since Trump took office for the second time in January, Mexico and the United States have the opposite names of large amounts of water.
Sheinbaum said Mexico will take legal action against Google if the map displayed to U.S. users continues to mark the Gulf of Mexico as the entire U.S. Gulf of waters.
In a February press conference, Sheinbaum argued that Trump's order to rename the waters only applies to part of the continental shelf under U.S. control.
“What Google does here is to change the name of the continental shelf of Mexico and Cuba, which has nothing to do with Trump's decree, which only applies to the US continental shelf,” Sheinbaum said. “We disagree with this, and the Foreign Secretary has sent a letter on the issue.”
For now, the Gulf appears in Google Maps, taking the “U.S. Gulf” in the United States as the “Gulf of Mexico”, in Mexico and Canada and elsewhere in the Gulf of Mexico (U.S. Gulf of Mexico (U.S. Gulf of Mexico)”.
Sheinbaum has repeatedly condemned the move, believing that the name of the “Gulf of Mexico” has long been recognized internationally. She said on February 13, she said Google has not yet resolved early complaints in Mexico.
“We will file a civil lawsuit if necessary,” she said. “Even President Trump did not propose to call the entire Gulf of Mexico the 'Gulf of America', but to only raise their continental shelf. So Google is wrong.”
When Trump first mentioned the idea of changing the Gulf of Mexico name, Sheinbaum responded sarcastically, suggesting renaming North America to “Mexican amémérica Mexicana” or “Mexican United States” because a founding document dates back to 1814, which was mentioned before the Mexican Constitution.
“Sounds good, doesn't it?” she added a sarcastic tone.
– Documents with Reuters
& Copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
