The Trump administration and Mexican officials have reached a deal to ensure Texas farmers get much-needed water from Rio Grande, and in less than a month Donald Trump accused farmers of robbing farmers in the south who promised water under the treaty for decades.
US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced on Monday that the deal was concluded with Mexico to meet the current water needs of Texas farmers and ranchers agreed in the 1944 Water Treaty.
Under the latest agreement, Mexico promises to send water to international reservoirs and extends U.S. traffic from six Rio Grande tributaries in Mexico to the end of the current five-year water cycle.
“Mexico finally met the water needs of Texas farmers and ranchers under the 1944 Water Treaty, a major victory for American agriculture,” Rollins said. “After weeks of negotiations with Mexican cabinet officials and Secretary of State Christopher Landau, we obtained a deal to provide Texas producers with the prosperity water they need.”
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Rollins called the measure an important step forward, noting that the Trump administration welcomes Mexico to continue operations to support U.S. agriculture.
Under the 1944 Water Treaty, Mexico agreed to provide 1.75 million acre feet of acre feet to the United States from Rio Grande. In exchange, the United States agreed to deliver 1.5 million acres of water from the Colorado River to Mexico.
But sometimes, delivery from Mexico to the United States is insufficient, which has caused farmers and ranchers in Rio Grande Valley to cause severe water shortages in Rio Grande, killing crops and jobs while threatening the local economy.
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Views of Rio Grande (Reuters/Veronica G. Cardenas)
The deal comes weeks after Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Mexico, and perhaps even sanctions, if it continues to rob Rio Grande Water, Texas, if it continues to follow the promises under the treaty.
"This is very unfair, it is very serious," the president wrote in an April 10 "Social Social" post.
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Donald Trump (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Trump continued that he will ensure that Mexico will not violate the U.S. treaty and harm farmers in Texas.
"Just last month, I stopped freight to Tijuana until Mexico meets the 1944 water treaty," he wrote. "My agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, stood up for farmers in Texas, and we will continue to raise the consequences, including tariffs, and even sanctions, until Mexico commemorates the treaty and grants the water they owe to Texas!"
The Texas Farm Group warned last year that Mexican and U.S. officials were trying to resolve disputes over the 1944 treaty that provided American farmers with strict irrigation to resolve catastrophic seasons of citrus and sugar.
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The two countries have previously involved in the treaty, but drought-driven water shortages have been the worst in the past 30 years.