The 1944 Water Treaty is back in the headlines, as Trump threatens Mexico for failing to “deliver” water to land that was once part of Mexico itself. This isn’t about water—it’s about power, empire, and the unfinished business of settler colonialism.
By Weaponized Information
In the sun-scorched borderlands between Mexico and the United States, water has always been more than water. It is sovereignty. It is survival. And it is, once again, being weaponized by an empire that treats treaties not as mutual agreements but as tools of leverage in the endless pursuit of control.
This week, former U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Mexico with tariffs and sanctions over alleged “noncompliance” with the 1944 Water Treaty, accusing the country of failing to deliver water owed to Texas. But from the vantage point of history, of colonial violence and broken borders, the claim is as absurd as it is arrogant: that Mexico owes water to the very land that was stolen from it.
The 1944 Treaty: From Compromise to Chokehold
The 1944 treaty was supposed to establish an equitable sharing of the Rio Grande and Colorado rivers. Mexico agreed to send 1.75 million acre-feet every five years; the U.S. would send 1.5 million annually to Mexico. In theory, there’s flexibility: extraordinary drought waives penalties. But imperialism has no patience for nuance. Texas demands its water. Climate change, poverty, and national sovereignty be damned.
Trump’s threats come in the middle of a catastrophic drought across northern Mexico. President Claudia Sheinbaum has responded by affirming Mexico’s willingness to comply “as far as possible”—but she has also rejected Trump’s attempt to politicize the crisis. As reported by El País, Sheinbaum defended the treaty while calling for rational cooperation.
Settler States, Stolen Rivers
Let’s recall: Texas was part of Mexico until 1836. It was taken by Anglo settlers, annexed by Washington in 1845, and became the launching pad for the U.S. invasion of Mexico. By 1848, nearly half of Mexico’s territory had been dismembered. Now, the imperial core demands water from the periphery—and criminalizes the very migrants who flee north as that water disappears.
The 1944 Treaty was signed during World War II, when Mexico was politically and economically subordinated to U.S. capital. It was never truly equal. Like NAFTA decades later, it was negotiated under duress—an attempt to institutionalize an unequal balance of power. And now, that imbalance is being enforced with threats of economic retaliation, once again.
Climate Apartheid and the Crisis of Imperialism
This isn’t just about water. It’s about the unraveling of a world order built on enforced scarcity for the many and endless abundance for the few. As the climate crisis accelerates, the imperial core tightens control over chokepoints—shipping lanes, rare earths, energy corridors, and now, river basins.
Mexico is not the only target. From Palestine to Peru, Bolivia to Bangladesh, the logic is the same: extract, hoard, privatize. And when the poor resist, punish them for “breaking agreements.” In reality, what’s breaking is the credibility of empire itself.
The View from Below: Resist the Drought of Justice
We at WI do not argue for the simple renegotiation of the 1944 treaty. We argue for its decolonization. For an end to the notion that empire can demand tribute—whether in water, lithium, or labor—under the banner of “law.”
Texas has no moral claim to Mexico’s rivers. It has no moral claim to its land, either. And Donald Trump—agent of technofascist revanchism—has no right to dictate how Mexico survives a climate catastrophe the U.S. helped cause.
Water is life. But under empire, water becomes leverage. It’s time to turn that leverage back around—and let the rivers run free.
—WI Dispatch
Weaponized Information for a decolonized future
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