BREAKING: Mexico to make ‘immediate’ water payment to US as Trump threatens sanctions

EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Hours after President Donald Trump threatened Mexico with additional tariffs over a massive water debt, that country's president publicly vowed to make a substantial payment soon.

Under a 1944 treaty, Mexico must send 1.75 million acre-feet of water to the U.S. from the Rio Grande every five years, and the United States is to pay Mexico 1.5 million acre-feet of water annually via the Colorado River out West.

The current five-year cycle ends in October and Mexico, so far, has paid only 512,604 acre-feet of water to the United States — about one-third of what it owes — according to the latest IBWC data published Friday.

“Mexico is unfortunately violating their treaty obligation,” Trump posted on Truth Social late Thursday. “My Agriculture Secretary, Brooke Rollins, is standing up for Texas farmers, and we will keep escalating consequences, including TARIFFS and, maybe even SANCTIONS, until Mexico honors the Treaty, and GIVES TEXAS THE WATER THEY ARE OWED!”

Trump specifically mentioned the effect the lack of water payments has had on South Texas farmers, and he touted a recent decision to withhold U.S. water payments to Mexico.

“I will make sure Mexico doesn’t violate our Treaties, and doesn’t hurt our Texas Farmers. Just last month, I halted water shipments to Tijuana until Mexico complies with the 1944 Water Treaty,” Trump wrote.

On Friday morning, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo said her country doesn’t have enough water to give to the United States but will make payments.

“To the farmers in Texas who are demanding the water: There will be an immediate delivery of a number of millions of cubic meters that we can give according to how much water the Rio Bravo (Rio Grande) has,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said in a news conference Friday. “And we hope the rainy season brings us more water so we can deliver more to the U.S.”

She did not specify the amount nor the date the water would flow to South Texas farmers whose crops are suffering the consequences of the late payments.

The recent withholding of water by the U.S. is the first in recent memory during the treaty's 80 years, but U.S. International Boundary and Water Commissioner Maria-Elena Giner last week told Border Report that was meant to be a “first step” in getting Mexico to pay up the water it owes.

Full repayment is not expected given the few months remaining in the cycle. An acre-foot of water is about 325,000 gallons or equivalent to filling an acre of land with 1-foot deep. Two acre-feet of water is enough to fill a 50-meter Olympic-sized swimming pool.

Thursday’s Border Report Live examined the possibility of a water war brewing on the border and was broadcast just hours before Trump’s post.

“This is very unfair," Trump wrote. "And it is hurting South Texas Farmers very badly. Last year, the only Sugar Mill in Texas CLOSED, because Mexico has been stealing the water from Texas Farmers."

Sheinbaum acknowledged her country’s water management capabilities need and will be modernized, and she threw a barb at the U.S. government for allegedly not complying with a treaty obligation of expanding the capability of a water treatment plant in Southern California.

She responded with a smile when a reporter in Mexico City asked her about Trump’s threat.

Do you believe the threat of sanctions?

“No, I don’t believe it,” Sheimbaum responded. “As we know, that is the way President Trump communicates.”

But she said a binational working group is working on the issue and will review the “technical aspects” of the treaty when it comes to drought. Mexican officials blame climate change for three consecutive years of drought in northern Mexico.

“What else are we doing? Another thing we’re doing – not because of the treaty but because it's beneficial to Mexico – is (modernize) water districts, especially those close to the (Rio Grande) so they don’t use so much water,” she said.

She said Chihuahua, whose tributaries feed the Rio Grande as it flows toward South Texas, has substantially expanded nut tree farms, which consume lots of water.

“Chihuahua consumes a lot of water. We need to make irrigation more efficient so that not so much water is used. In fact, they have wells that are unregulated,” the Mexican president said.

Mexican news media have reported that up to 7,000 unregulated wells or illicit water taps are draining tributaries in that region.

The unfolding situation reflects the complexities at the heart of U.S.-Mexico water relations, where environmental, economic, and historical factors intertwine. As both nations work towards a resolution, it is imperative for stakeholders to prioritize sustainable practices and collaboration, ensuring that both farmers and ecosystems benefit in the long run. The coming months will be critical in determining not only the immediate future of water distribution but also the overall health of binational agricultural partnerships.