Mexico has committed to releasing more than 200,000 acre-feet of water to the United States starting this week, averting the threatened imposition of an additional U.S. tariff on Mexican goods.
The Mexican and U.S. governments announced on Friday that they had “reached an understanding on water management for the current cycle and the previous cycle’s water deficit under the 1944 Water Treaty.”
The third of five points in a “Mexico-U.S. Joint Communiqué on Water Distribution” states that “Mexico intends to release 202,000 acre-feet of water to the United States with deliveries expected to commence the week of December 15, 2025.”
It was unclear when the delivery of the 202,000 acre-feet of water would be completed.
The 2020-25 cycle of the bilateral 1944 Water Treaty concluded in late October with Mexico still owing the U.S. just over 865,000 acre-feet of water, an amount equivalent to almost 50% of the 1.75 million acre-feet of water it is required to send across the northern border every five years from six tributaries of the Rio Grande.
Mexico will need to make up the shortfall in the 2025-30 cycle of the treaty. Its capacity to meet its treaty obligations in the past five-year cycle was hindered by drought conditions that were particularly severe in the north of the country.
The understanding the Mexican and U.S. governments reached on Friday came four days after U.S. President Donald Trump noted in a social media post that “Mexico still owes the U.S over 800,000 acre-feet of water for failing to comply with our Treaty over the past five years.”
US blames Texas crop losses on Mexico’s missed water deliveries
He wrote that “the U.S needs Mexico to release 200,000 acre-feet of water before December 31st,” before making one of his trademark tariff threats.
“As of now, Mexico is not responding, and it is very unfair to our U.S. Farmers who deserve this much needed water. That is why I have authorized documentation to impose a 5% Tariff on Mexico if this water isn’t released, IMMEDIATELY,” wrote Trump, whose administration has already imposed tariffs on a range of Mexican products.
After the tariff threat, Mexican officials engaged with Trump administration representatives in a series of meetings.
In a statement, Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) said that “in recent weeks, both countries have worked intensively and in coordination to establish a technical roadmap that improves management of the current [treaty] cycle and addresses the deficit from the previous cycle.”
In the same statement, which includes the text of the Joint Communiqué, the SRE said that “Mexico reached an agreement with the United States to strengthen water management in the Rio Grande basin under the 1944 Water Treaty.”
“The Government of Mexico emphasizes that it has not violated any of its provisions,” the SRE said, adding that “during a period marked by an extraordinary and unprecedented drought that has affected users in both countries, Mexico has made additional deliveries, always in accordance with the Treaty, water availability, and the operational and infrastructure limitations of the region.”
“… The actions taken over the past year demonstrate that Mexico is meeting its obligations according to actual water availability, without affecting the human right to water and food production, and will continue to do so under the Treaty and through binational cooperation,” the ministry said.
For her part, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins portrayed Mexico’s commitment to promptly begin transferring 202,000 acre-feet of water to the U.S. as a significant win for American farmers.
“President Trump continues to put American farmers first and is finally holding our international partners accountable to their obligations and commitments. Once again, America is being treated fairly,” she said.
“Farmers across South Texas have been reeling from the uncertainty caused by the lack of water. Now they can expect the resources promised to them, thanks to President Trump’s leadership,” Rollins said.
She thanked Mexico “for their willingness to abide by the treaty and return to good standing with their past obligations,” but added that:
“President Trump has been very clear: if Mexico continues to violate its commitments, the United States reserves the right and will impose 5% tariffs on Mexican products.”
Bilateral water negotiations are ongoing
The Mexico-U.S. Joint Communiqué also states that “both countries acknowledge the critical importance of water sharing obligations under the 1944 Treaty and their impact on our citizens, and reaffirm the need to increase engagement to improve timely management of water.”
It says that “a series of actions to meet the treaty obligations have been reviewed, including timely repayment of the outstanding deficit from the previous water cycle, in accordance to the 1944 Water Treaty.”
“The two governments are in negotiations and intend to finalize the plan by January 31, 2026,” the communiqué adds.
The fifth and final point of the communiqué reads:
“Both countries concur on the importance of continuing to work cooperatively within the framework of the 1944 Water Treaty and the CILA/IBWC. In the event of noncompliance, each country can act sovereignly, in accordance to its national interests, subject to its international treaty obligations.”
The acronyms CILA (Spanish) and IBWC refer to the International Boundary and Water Commission, a 136-year-old body that is responsible for applying the boundary and water treaties between the United States and Mexico and settling differences that may arise in their application.
Sheinbaum: Water deliveries to US won’t adversely affect Mexico
At her morning press conference on Monday, President Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters that Mexico is not handing over water that “we don’t have” or whose delivery to the U.S. will affect availability for human consumption and agricultural purposes.
💧”No es que estemos entregando más de lo que dice el tratado y tampoco estamos dando el agua eh que no tenemos o afectando al consumo humano y a la agricultura en México”, la presidenta Sheinbaum señala que con EU se logró un acuerdo para entregar el agua en más tiempo y en el… pic.twitter.com/5FcXo9Wc8q
— Animal Político (@Pajaropolitico) December 15, 2025
The president of Mexico’s National Agriculture Council, Jorge Esteve, has raised concerns about the risk water deliveries to the U.S. pose to water availability for human consumption and agriculture in Mexico.
Sheinbaum emphasized that Mexico is not delivering more water than is required under the terms of the 1944 treaty.
Sheinbaum indicated that the delivery of the 202,000 acre-feet of water to the U.S. won’t be completed until next year, as she said it wasn’t possible to transfer such a quantity of water by Dec. 31, the deadline set by Trump in his social media post.
“An agreement was reached to deliver it in more time,” she said.
Sheinbaum also said that Mexican officials had pointed out to their U.S. counterparts that Mexico’s failure to meet its treaty obligations during the previous five-year cycle wasn’t due to a lack of will but rather a lack of rain.
Mexico News Daily
