At a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) questioned Sec. Marco Rubio about
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00:00Thank you, Senator. Senator Cruz.
00:02Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Welcome back.
00:05When you were last testifying before this committee, you and I talked about water in South Texas,
00:10and we talked about the 1944 Water Treaty.
00:14As you know well, South Texas has, for the last four years, faced a severe drought,
00:20and that drought has been substantially exacerbated by the conduct of the government of Mexico,
00:25and in particular, it's repeated in flagrant violations of the 1944 Water Treaty.
00:31Under that treaty, Mexico is obligated to provide 350,000 acre-feet of water each year to South Texas.
00:38Mexico was breaking that treaty, and there were 1.3 million acre-feet of water in arrears.
00:43As a consequence, South Texas is facing a massive drought.
00:48South Texas farmers are putting out of production up to half their acreage.
00:52They're laying off workers.
00:54Last year, the only sugar mill in the state of Texas closed because sugar farmers could not get the crop,
01:01get the water to grow their crop.
01:03And you committed at that hearing to work with me and assist in pressuring Mexico to comply with that treaty.
01:12In the months since then, you have followed through on that commitment.
01:16You have leaned in vigorously with the government of Mexico.
01:20Your deputy, Chris Landau, has done the same thing.
01:23Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins has done the same thing.
01:26And then, critically, President Trump put out a public statement on Truth Social,
01:31making clear to Mexico that there would be serious consequences,
01:36sanctions and tariffs if they did not comply with the Water Treaty.
01:40I will say, as a result of the President's leadership and your hard work, we've had a major victory for South Texas.
01:48And Mexico has committed to providing 400,000 acre-feet of water, which is desperately needed.
01:54So I want to just start by saying thank you.
01:57In four years under Joe Biden, the Biden administration would not lift a finger for Texans,
02:04for farmers in South Texas to hold Mexico to account.
02:09And the Trump administration has done more in four months fighting for water in South Texas than Joe Biden did for four years.
02:16So I wanted to say thank you.
02:18And I wanted to ask how the State Department is approaching next steps on the 1944 Water Treaty.
02:23Well, first of all, we have to understand that that commitment is met.
02:27And then we have to begin to prepare for the next cycle.
02:29This is one of one-year problems.
02:30So we want to continue to work on that to make sure that those commitments are made.
02:34And that in the next cycle, this becomes made permanent.
02:38That in essence, this becomes a new standard operating procedure and not a one-off.
02:43And by the way, it has to be something that exists beyond the presidency of the current president.
02:48Because if the next president doesn't prioritize it, it could go back.
02:50So I just think this continued engagement with them on our expectations,
02:53The truth of the matter is, and in fairness, the Mexican government has grown increasingly cooperative on a number of fronts,
03:00both on national security issues and common security issues, but also on issues such as this.
03:05We're also happy.
03:06I think there's also the new treatment plant that they've opened, the Tijuana wastewater one,
03:12that we think will also be very helpful to water issues in the region and also the water quality issues.
03:17But this was a good news story.
03:18I think it's what happens when you make something a priority and then follow through on it.
03:24But we have to sustain it.
03:26And that really is our focus now, to sustain this for future cycles, not just the short term.
03:30So, and I'll tell you, earlier this year, I went down to the Rio Grande Valley with Secretary Rollins.
03:37And in December, I wrote a provision in the continuing resolution that provided emergency relief to South Texas farmers, $280 million.
03:46And Secretary Rollins came down.
03:48Now, Brooke is the first Texan ever to be the U.S. Agriculture Secretary.
03:51And she's the first Ag Secretary in history to go to the Rio Grande Valley.
03:55And Secretary Rollins and I did a roundtable.
03:58And I will say, you and I have both been very focused on the Hispanic community in particular.
04:04I will say the impact in the Rio Grande Valley of having a president and an administration that is fighting for them is enormously consequential.
04:11And so I was very grateful that she came down.
04:13And the farmers and ranchers in South Texas see that they've got a president and an administration that's fighting for them.
04:19Let me shift to a different topic.
04:22Today, South African President Ramaphosa is in Washington, D.C.
04:28He'll be meeting with President Trump tomorrow.
04:31You and the president, as well as other administration officials, have repeatedly and rightly criticized South African policies on issues ranging from human rights to activities that directly undermine American national security.
04:44Those activities, in turn, include what appears to be an explicit and extensive pivot away from the United States and towards the Chinese Communist Party.
04:55There are also serious and credible allegations that the South African government's decision-making is compromised by widespread corruption tied directly to Iran.
05:05They are working together to target our Israeli allies on the international stage.
05:10President Ramaphosa himself has taken an aggressive position, leading a charge of genocide against Israel in the International Court of Justice.
05:18And he has pushed for precedents and policies that will not just undermine Israel but expose American officials to vulnerabilities as well.
05:27I have every confidence that President Trump will demand South African officials change their policies and will hold them accountable if they don't.
05:35And it's critically important for the American people to understand the bases for our policies.
05:40Please talk a little bit about the extent of South Africa's malign activities and how they are undermining American national security interests.
05:49Well, it's one of the – first of all, we chose not to participate in this year's G20 hosted by South Africa, either at the foreign minister level or the president's level.
05:57And it had a lot to do with some of these issues in addition to some of the issues they brought on their agenda, which we don't think reflect the priorities of this administration.
06:04So the president of South Africa is here today because he says he endeavors to reset relations between our countries.
06:11And President Trump, if someone says that, is always going to be open to resetting relations.
06:15But it will have to touch on some of the issues just pointed to now.
06:18Obviously, the position they've adopted towards Israel is way – not just off balance, but completely geared towards one side.
06:24And it makes one wonder about these allegations that are out there now of foreign influence, including with Iran.
06:31They clearly, on the global stage and multiple multinational organizations, have consistently been a vote against America's interests, time and again.
06:39Not one off – you always understand what some country has to go in one direction opposite to you because, you know, that happens.
06:45That's what diplomacy is ultimately about.
06:47Diplomacy is also about when we're aligned, we work together.
06:50When we're unaligned, we have to talk.
06:51But when one country is consistently unaligned with the United States on issue after issue after issue after issue, now you become – you have to make conclusions about it.
07:01So all I could say about the meeting today – I'm not there, obviously, because I'm here with all of you.
07:04In fact, it may be going on right now as we speak, or it was scheduled to go on as we speak – is this was an outreach on the part of the South African president.
07:11He said he wanted to come to Washington.
07:12He wanted to reset relations with the United States.
07:15I have no reports as to how that meeting has gone so far.
07:18If there's a willingness on their side to reset relations, obviously something we'll explore.
07:23But we do so with eyes wide open to what they've done so far.
07:27And how does their campaign against Israel undermine America?
07:31Well, I think, first of all, because it echoes some of the charges that are being made by some of the biggest enemies of Israel that happen to be ours, whether it's Iran, whether it's these radical groups that chant death to America, death to Israel.
07:44So we're very concerned about that.
07:46I also think there's real concern in our mind about some of these international institutions that, frankly, South Africa has lined up strongly behind who would seek to, if they could, jail and prison, indict American office holders because of some of the positions we've taken on public policy, even though we're not members to the conventions that create these entities.
08:05So if you talk about these groups that are, they are, in essence, utilizing their forum on the national stage as a nation state under this president and this leadership to echo the claims and the positions taken by not just Iran, but in many cases, China as well.