US President Donald Trump has escalated his rhetoric toward Mexico, threatening new tariffs and possibly sanctions, amid an escalating dispute over water on the southern US border.
"Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins is standing up for Texas farmers, and we will continue to escalate the consequences, including tariffs and possibly sanctions, until Mexico honors the treaty and gives Texas the water it is owed," Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Thursday.
This tension comes as both Mexico and Texas are facing severe drought conditions.
According to the North American Drought Monitor, more than 70% of the Rio Grande/Bravo River basin, which lies between the US and Mexico, was experiencing moderate to exceptional drought by the end of February.
In March, the US rejected a Mexican request to send water to Tijuana, citing Mexican failure to deliver water quotas.
Trump says Mexico owes about 1.3 million acre-feet of water under a 1944 treaty dividing resources between the two countries.
Under the treaty, Mexico is supposed to send an average of 350,000 acre-feet of water annually to the United States. The flows are tallied on five-year cycles, for a total of 1.75 million-acre feet.
Mexican leaders have attributed the water shortage to the same climate conditions affecting Texas. "There's less water," Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said in March, according to Agence France-Presse. "That's part of the problem."
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