The U.S. Department of State said that the United States has denied a non-treaty request by Mexico for a special delivery channel for Colorado River water to be delivered to Tijuana.
“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 said in a post on X on Thursday.
“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 department added.
Under a 1944 treaty, which governs water allocation from the Rio Grande and Colorado rivers, Mexico is required to transfer water to the United States every five years from the two dams the countries share on the Texas border.
The treaty sets five-year cycles for these water deliveries, with the latest scheduled to end in October 2025, but Mexico has fallen behind due to drought conditions.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said the issue is important and that it is being addressed.
“It is being addressed by (national water agency) Conagua and CILA (International Boundary and Water Commission), which is in charge of reviewing this treaty,” Sheinbaum commented on Thursday.
“There’s been less water. That’s part of the problem,” she told reporters.
On Wednesday, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said that he hosted farmers and ranchers from across the Rio Grand Valley, adding that their “situation is dire.”
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“Mexico is refusing to comply with its obligations under the 1944 Water Treaty to provide water from the Rio Grande to the US, even while we go above and beyond our own obligations to give Mexico water. The effects on Texas have been catastrophic,” Cruz wrote on X.
“Last Congress, I introduced and advanced the first-ever legislation to impose sanctions on Mexico and withhold aid over noncompliance,” Cruz continued. “I will soon do so again this Congress, but I am also working with the Trump administration to impose consequences on Mexico right now.”
“Every option is on the table, not just withholding aid but also water we have been giving Mexico, which can be done without breaching our own obligations under the treaty,” he concluded.
Earlier this month, the Water, Agriculture, and Rural Affairs Committee voted in favour of the U.S. State Department ensuring Mexico meets its obligations to deliver the water to the U.S.
The committee heard testimony from Rio Grande Valley officials on how Mexico’s failure to deliver water has impacted local farmers and stalled growth.
“It’s really causing a lot of severe issues not only for the valley but along the river from El Paso down to Brownsville,” Texas Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa said at the hearing.
“The reality is that even commercially, the growth of the valley is being stunned because we cannot issue any more builder’s permits because there’s no water,” Hinojosa said. “Hopefully, the present Trump administration will be a lot more aggressive in trying to address the issue.”
State Sen. Charles Perry had previously said that “it would be nice” if the Trump administration could include the water treaty in their tariff negotiations.
“It would be nice to include water release under the 1944 treaty in those tariff negotiations so that we could get some relief in the valley,” Perry said.
This isn’t the only water issue that Mexico and the U.S. have faced over the last few months.
Since Trump took office for the second time in January, Mexico and the United States have been at odds over the name change of a big body of water.
Sheinbaum said that Mexico would take legal action against Google if the map shown to U.S.-based users continued to label the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America across the entire body of water.
During a press conference in February, Sheinbaum argued that Trump’s order to rename the body of water only applies to part of the continental shelf under U.S. control.
“What Google is doing here is changing the name of the continental shelf of Mexico and Cuba, which has nothing to do with Trump’s decree, which applied only to the U.S. continental shelf,” Sheinbaum said. “We do not agree with this, and the foreign minister has sent a new letter addressing the issue.”
As it stands, the gulf appears in Google Maps as “Gulf of America” within the United States, as “Gulf of Mexico” within Mexico, and “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)” in Canada and elsewhere.
Sheinbaum has repeatedly decried the move, arguing the “Gulf of Mexico” name has long been recognized internationally. On Feb. 13, she said Google had not resolved Mexico’s earlier complaints.
“If necessary, we will file a civil suit,” she said. “Even President Trump isn’t proposing that the entire Gulf of Mexico be called the ‘Gulf of America,’ but only their continental shelf. So Google is wrong.”
The first time Trump mentioned the idea of changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico, Sheinbaum responded sarcastically, suggesting instead renaming North America as “América Mexicana” or “Mexican America,” because a founding document dating from 1814 that preceded Mexico’s constitution referred to it that way.
“That sounds nice, no?” she added with a sarcastic tone.
— With files from Reuters
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