Trump Slams Mexico Over Lack Of Water Payments To Texas: 'FIX THIS NOW'

President Donald Trump slammed Mexico over its lack of water payments to the country, saying he will impose a 5% tariff if the issue is not addressed "immediately."

In a lengthy social media publication, Trump said Mexico's missed payments are "seriously hurting our BEAUTIFUL TEXAS CROPS AND LIVESTOCK."

Trump went on to detail that the country owes the U.S. "over 800,000 acre-feet of water for failing to comply with our Treaty over the past five years" and must pay 200,000 acre-feet before December 31st, with the rest coming "soon after."

Should that not happen, Trump said, his administration will impose a "5% tariff on Mexico if this water isn't released IMMEDIATELY." "The longer Mexico takes to release the water, the more our Farmers are hurt. Mexico has an obligation to FIX THIS NOW," he concluded.

The treaty, signed in 1944, requires Mexico to deliver 1,750,000 acre-feet of water from six tributaries to the U.S. every five years. In exchange, the U.S. has to give Mexico 1,500,000 acre-feet of water from the Colorado River every year.

However, Mexico ended the latest five-year period with a debt of 925,000 acre-feet of water, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

"TCEQ continues to work closely with our federal partners, including the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) to have reliability and consistency under the treaty," the agency said in a statement.

Mexico's water commission CONAGUA has constantly argued that the country is not unwilling to comply, just unable to do so. "We want to comply with the treaty – from which both countries benefit greatly. But we are in a drought situation made worse in recent years due to factors such as climate change," a Mexican official told Border Report in late April.

Several lawmakers have been pushing Trump to act on the matter, with a Republican Rep. warning that that a key industry could disappear otherwise.

Rep. Monica De La Cruz sent a letter to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins in November, claiming that the "most critical issue for our region continues to be the lack of water deliveries from the 1944 Water Treaty."

"We have seen a feeble attempt to deliver water by the Mexican government this year," the lawmaker added, according to Border Report. She told the outlet that the citrus industry is being threatened by the lack of water payments from Mexico.

She went on to say that if the Mexican government declares a drought to not honor its payments "our farmers will not get any more water for five years, which will devastate South Texas producers and could create a national crisis."