Mexico’s water debt to the United States and the imminent arrival of new U.S. Ambassador Ronald D. Johnson were among the issues President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke about at her Friday morning press conference.
She also responded to compliments she received from United States President Donald Trump and two well-known women from the world of entertainment.
Sheinbaum confident that water won’t be an ‘issue of conflict’ between Mexico and US
A reporter asked the president whether the 1944 water treaty between Mexico and the United States — under which each country has to supply water to the other via the Rio Grande and the Colorado River — should be renegotiated given that climate change has affected water availability.
“I don’t think it should be [re]negotiated. It’s a fair treaty,” Sheinbaum said.
“… In fact the United States delivers more [water to Mexico] that we deliver [to them],” she said.
Her remarks came after Trump took to social media on Thursday to highlight that Mexico has a large water debt to the U.S. under the terms of the 81-year-old treaty.
“Mexico OWES Texas 1.3 million acre-feet of water under the 1944 Water Treaty, but Mexico is unfortunately violating their Treaty obligation. This is very unfair, and it is hurting South Texas Farmers very badly,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“… I will make sure Mexico doesn’t violate our Treaties, and doesn’t hurt our Texas Farmers. … 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!” he wrote.
Sheinbaum said on Friday that Trump was “perhaps” unaware that Mexican and the United States officials have been discussing the issue.
The president noted — as she highlighted in her own social media post on Thursday — that her government has sent a proposal to its U.S. counterpart detailing how much water it can send to its northern neighbor “immediately.”
She said that the government is looking at how much more water Mexico will be able to deliver in the second half of the year depending on precipitation levels during the upcoming rainy season.
“It’s a very reasonable proposal and it has to do with the availability of water,” Sheinbaum said.
In a post to X on Thursday in response to Trump’s Truth Social message, the president wrote that there have been “three years of drought” and Mexico “has been complying” with the treaty to the extent it has been able to based on water availability.
On Friday, she predicted that Mexico and the United States will reach a “reasonable agreement” on the issue in the coming days.
“I don’t see it being an issue of conflict,” Sheinbaum said.
She said she didn’t believe the United States would impose any sanctions on Mexico due to the water issue, as Trump indicated he is prepared to do.
“As we know it’s [just] President Trump’s way of communicating,” Sheinbaum said.
Sheinbaum stresses importance of ‘not thinking you’re all that’ after compliments from Trump and others
A reporter noted that Trump, rock singer Shirley Manson and actress Fran Drescher all paid compliments to the president in recent days.
The U.S. president called Sheinbaum a “terrific person” and a “fantastic woman” on Thursday, while Manson, singer for the rock group Garbage, said “we really do love your new president” at a music festival in Monterrey this week.
Drescher, a ’90s sitcom star and president of the SAG-AFTRA actors union, told Mexican Ambassador to the United States Esteban Moctezuma that she wants to personally meet Sheinbaum to “express her admiration and interest in working together on women’s and environmental issues,” according to a social media post by Moctezuma on Thursday.
Sheinbaum said she was grateful to receive the compliments, but stressed the importance of “no creerse el muy muy,” or “not thinking you’re all that.”
“That doesn’t help at all,” she said.
“The important thing is that there are a lot of people, and that’s what gives us strength, not the president,” Sheinbaum said.
“It’s this movement of transformation, which has not just been important in the country but is today recognized in the whole world,” she said in reference to the so-called “fourth transformation of public life” in Mexico, initiated by former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Mexico will ask for ‘respect’ from new US ambassador
A reporter noted that the United States Senate this week confirmed Ronald Johnson as U.S. ambassador to Mexico and asked the president her opinion on the matter.
“Well, he’s the ambassador they’re sending. When he arrives here to Mexico we will establish all the relations and communication there needs to be,” Sheinbaum said.
She said that her government will ask for “respect” from Johnson, who served as U.S. ambassador to El Salvador during Trump’s first term as president.
“Respect and collaboration within the framework of our Constitution,” Sheinbaum said.
At a Senate hearing last month, Johnson — an army veteran and former CIA official — said that the U.S. military could unilaterally take action against drug cartels on Mexican soil if the lives of U.S. citizens were at risk. Sheinbaum promptly rebuffed that declaration.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])
