US, Mexico strike key agricultural agreements amid trade tensions

The United States and Mexico have reached two crucial agreements in the agricultural sector, easing tensions that had threatened to complicate wider trade negotiations prompted by tariffs imposed under Donald Trump's administration. 

Mexico has pledged to deliver water to farmers in Texas after Washington complained that it had failed to meet longstanding commitments, Caliber.Az reports per US media.

Separately, the two nations also struck a deal to combat the New World screwworm pest south of the US border, thereby avoiding potential restrictions on American livestock imports.

The agreements signal that Mexico is managing to cooperate with the US despite the Trump administration’s confrontational stance, a development viewed as positive for Mexico’s broader efforts to negotiate relief from tariffs on auto parts, steel and other goods.

According to a statement from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Mexico will transfer water from international reservoirs and increase the US share of flows from six tributaries of the Rio Grande through to the end of the current five-year water cycle, which concludes on October 24. Mexico confirmed this commitment in a separate announcement.

The arrangement is grounded in the 1944 Water Treaty, which requires Mexico to deliver 1.75 million acre-feet of water over five years to the United States from the Rio Grande, while the US provides 1.5 million acre-feet to Mexico from the Colorado River. However, the precise volume of Mexico’s immediate transfer remains unclear.

The Mexican Agriculture Ministry said Mexico had agreed with the United States to implement a range of measures to mitigate possible shortfalls in water deliveries, including immediate transfers and increased flows during the next rainy season. It added that renegotiation of the 1944 Treaty was not deemed necessary, given the benefits it provides to both countries.

Meanwhile, although details of the screwworm agreement were not disclosed, both sides confirmed a pact had been reached. US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins had previously warned that Washington could reimpose restrictions on Mexican livestock imports if stronger measures against the pest were not taken.

Speaking during a visit to Ohio, Rollins said she had held discussions with Mexico’s Agriculture Minister, Julio Berdegue, resulting in an agreement to strengthen efforts against the screwworm. Berdegue confirmed via social media platform X that both nations had satisfactorily agreed on measures to continue joint work to contain and eradicate the parasite, which poses serious risks to livestock health.

The USDA had suspended cattle imports from Mexico in November following a screwworm case in Chiapas state, although trade resumed in January.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has sought to avoid direct confrontation with Trump, opting instead for what she has described as a "cool-headed" approach, including direct phone calls between the two leaders. This strategy has reportedly yielded some concessions, including the postponement and scaling back of certain tariffs.

Nevertheless, Mexico continues to face US tariffs on goods not covered by the North American free trade agreement, as well as levies on steel, aluminium and portions of finished automobiles manufactured outside the United States.

Sheinbaum’s government remains optimistic about reducing these tariffs and achieving a successful review of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which is scheduled for reassessment next year, although the process could be brought forward.

By Aghakazim Guliyev