Dec 8 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to impose an additional 5% tariff on Mexico if it doesn’t immediately provide additional water to help U.S. farmers, accusing the country of violating a treaty that outlines water sharing between the neighbors.
Under the treaty, Mexico must send 1.75 million acre-feet of water to the U.S. from the Rio Grande through a network of interconnected dams and reservoirs every five years.
Trump said in a social media post that Mexico “owes” the U.S. 800,000 acre-feet of water due to violations of the treaty over the past five years.
He demanded Mexico release 200,000 acre-feet of water before December 31, and more “soon after.”
The lack of water was hurting crops and livestock in Texas, Trump said.
“As of now, Mexico is not responding, and it is very unfair to our U.S. Farmers who deserve this much needed water,” Trump said. “That is why I have authorized documentation to impose a 5% Tariff on Mexico if this water isn’t released, IMMEDIATELY.”
A spokesperson for Mexico’s economy ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In April, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said that Mexico had agreed to increase its water shipments to Texas to help make up a shortfall under the 1944 treaty.
Mexico has argued that it is under drought conditions that have strained the country’s water resources.
(Reporting by Ryan Patrick Jones in Toronto and Sarah Morland in Mexico City; editing by Costas Pitas)
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