Trump delivers resounding victory for parched South Texas farmers as Mexico buckles
Washington D.C.: President Donald Trump has successfully enforced a 1944 water treaty with Mexico, ensuring water deliveries for drought-stricken South Texas farmers. The breakthrough follows years of Mexican non-compliance that devastated agricultural communities in the Rio Grande Valley.
In a statement hailed as a "historic demonstration of leadership", the State Department announced Mexico has agreed to immediate water transfers from international reservoirs and increased US water shares across six Mexican tributaries. The deal, negotiated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, provides urgent relief for the current growing season through October while establishing a framework for long-term compliance.
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The victory comes after Trump took aggressive action last month, halting water shipments to Mexico and threatening tariffs to force treaty adherence. For four years under the Biden administration, Mexico had refused obligations under the 1944 Treaty of Utilization of Waters, which requires 1.75 million acre-feet of Rio Grande water deliveries to the US every five years. The water crisis forced the closure of Texas' last sugar mill in 2023 and left farmers dependent on emergency USDA grants.
"This administration has shown other nations must meet their obligations to Americans," said Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), who championed sanctions legislation to pressure Mexico. Congresswoman Monica De La Cruz (R-TX) contrasted Trump's results with Biden's inaction: "For two years, we were told nothing could be done."
The 1944 Water Treaty — officially titled the Treaty on the Utilization of Waters of the Colorado and Tijuana Rivers and of the Rio Grande — is an agreement that governs the allocation and management of water resources shared by the two countries.
In the treaty the US agreed to deliver 1.5 million acre-feet (MAF) of water annually to Mexico from the Colorado River. Mexico agreed to deliver an average of 350,000 acre-feet per year over a 5-year cycle from six Mexican tributaries of the Rio Grande (including the Conchos River).
The treaty also authorized the construction and operation of international dams and reservoirs, such as the Amistad and Falcon Dams. Extended droughts and climate change have strained water deliveries, particularly from Mexico to the US on the Rio Grande side.
In the 1960s–70s, high salinity in water delivered by the US to Mexico caused major agricultural damage in the Mexicali Valley. It led to Minute 242 (1973), an addendum to the treaty, which required improved water quality standards.