Mexico president confident of deal with US on water dispute

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO - Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Tuesday she was confident of reaching an agreement with US President Donald Trump in a water-sharing dispute, after he threatened new sanctions.

"I am convinced that, as has happened other times, we are going to reach an agreement that benefits the United States and Mexico," Sheinbaum told a news conference a day after Trump's threat.

Trump on Monday accused Mexico of violating a 1944 treaty under which the United States shares water from the Colorado River in exchange for flows from the Rio Grande, which forms part of the border between the two countries.

Trump said Mexico owed 800,000 acre-feet of water to the United States and demanded it release a quarter of this amount by December 31 or be hit with a new five percent tariff.

Sheinbaum said Mexican officials would meet Tuesday with US counterparts to discuss the dispute.

Mexico has acknowledged it is behind in its water deliveries to the US over the past five years, citing drought conditions in 2022 and 2023.

Sheinbaum said it would be physically impossible to deliver the amount of water Trump wants so quickly because the pumping equipment could not handle it.

"We have the best will to deliver the amount of water that is owed from previous years," she said Tuesday.

The move to boost water supplies for Texas farmers came as the 79-year-old president announced a $12 billion aid package for the US agriculture industry, rocked by fallout from his trade and tariff policies.

Trump in April had previously threatened Mexico with economic repercussions over the water dispute, prompting Mexico at the time to immediately send water.

Mexican goods currently face a 25% tariff unless they fall under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), a free trade deal struck during Trump's first term and which Washington is aiming to renegotiate in 2026.