Over one dozen organizations – members of the Tijuana River Coalition – urged the Trump administration to solve the Tijuana sewage crisis with drastic sanctions, including possible termination of a crucial free-trade agreement with Mexico.
Along with local political leaders, the group called for greater accountability, increased funding and more transparency in U.S.-Mexico efforts to address the public health threat and the pollution of local beaches.
Advocates voiced that a modernized United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) must impose enforceable environmental standards as a condition of extending the free-trade pact.
In a six-page letter to Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade representative (USTR), on July 7, the organization argued that environmental protection and free trade should be valued in tandem under the USMCA.
“The communities that live, work, and recreate alongside the U.S.-Mexico border deserve clean water, healthy beaches, thriving ecosystems, and a safe environment,” said Charles Rilli, deputy chapter director of Sierra Club San Diego. “Extending or renewing the USMCA without meaningful environmental accountability will only continue the cycle of pollution and environmental damage that has plagued the Tijuana River watershed for decades.”
Advocates and representatives of elected officials were joined by Assemblymember David Alvarez, a Democrat representing the 80th Assembly District, and San Diego County Supervisor Paloma Aguirre during a press conference in the Otay Mesa-Nestor community to urge that any renewal of the USMCA commits to addressing a decades-long crisis resulting from industrial growth and limited infrastructure investment.
Alvarez said he plans to present legislation in August calling for enforceable, measurable commitments addressing transboundary pollution in the Tijuana River Valley.
“I am here to ask, along with the community members, that our U.S. trade representative, Mr. Greer, make it clear that the federal administration will not extend the USMCA in its current form unless it intends to address the shortcomings that are found in the Tijuana River Valley,” said Alvarez during a press conference on July 16. “… I will be in Mexico City next week personally, where I’ll be reaching out and talking about this issue with those who will open the doors to us.”
Aguirre, the former mayor of Imperial Beach, said the coalition wants “specific actions when we see clear violations, and it means mandatory pollution reduction benchmarks, improved operations and maintenance standards, and enforceable penalties when pollution crosses into our communities.”
Greer is leading the bi-lateral negotiations and has been the point of contact for USMCA related comments, said Rilli.
Rilli said penalties for violations would be up to negotiators but options include: monetary fines, tariffs and termination of the USMCA. Enforcement for penalties could come from an established environmental oversight body, such as the existing environment committee.
“We were hoping to highlight the need for penalties to hold both governments accountable,” Rilli told The Coronado News.
On July 17, the USTR office announced Mexico is taking steps to control more effectively the discharge of industrial wastewaters into the Southwestern United States. The office did not specify if discussions on cross border pollution were planned.
The U.S., Mexico, and Canada met virtually on July 1 to discuss the operation of the USMCA. At that time, the U.S. did not agree to renew the USMCA in its current form. A third round of bilateral negotiations between the U.S. and Mexico was scheduled in Mexico City.
But the previous month President Trump told reporters he is not looking to renew the USMCA.
“We don’t need anything that Canada has, we don’t need anything that Mexico has, but they need everything that we have,” said Trump. “… We’re talking to them, we’ll see if we do something.”
Termination of the agreement would have dramatic economic impacts in both countries. Majority of the goods imported from Canada and Mexico into the U.S. come in tariff-free under the agreement’s rules, the New York Times reports, totalling more than $900 billion of products last year. Experts say those goods, and U.S. businesses affected by supply chains, are key in agreement negotiations and renewal.
The trade representative is a cabinet-level official who serves as the president’s advisor and negotiator on international trade policies. On July 23 Greer met with President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo to discuss progress in negotiations regarding economic security, labor, agriculture, electronic payment services, steel and aluminum and derivative products, and automobiles.
The USTR office said both countries plan to reconvene in Washington, D.C., in September.
“The United States will continue to engage with Mexico and Canada to address the agreement’s shortcomings and our trade deficits with these countries,” said Greer in a statement on July 1. “However, the agreement remains in force pending resolution of these issues or until the agreement’s termination.”
Some political leaders across San Diego, including the city of Coronado, called on feds to force sewage cleanup by Mexico last year by cutting off Colorado River water to Tijuana and restricting commercial border crossings. Coronado has also called for economic, trade and monetary penalties as consequences for Mexico’s failure to maintain infrastructure causing pollution in the U.S.
The USMCA, formerly known as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), went into effect in 2020. In NAFTA negotiations, the U.S. sought to support higher-paying jobs in the United States and to grow the U.S. economy by improving U.S. opportunities to trade with Canada and Mexico, according to archives from the USTR.
In July, the three nations began a review to determine the framework for a 16-year extension. Annual evaluations of the USMCA are expected until the agreement expires in 2036, unless all parties agree to extend it.
Binational trade has led to a growth in industrial and residential activity in Tijuana, overwhelming Mexican and U.S. sewage treatment facilities and releasing millions of gallons of sewage into the ocean. For years, this pollution has contaminated beaches in Imperial Beach and Coronado, impacting local businesses as well as the health and safety of people living near the Tijuana River.
Despite more than $650 million in U.S. investments, pollution persists.
“Our community cannot continue to live with the uncertainty of not knowing what is going to happen as part of this agreement,” said Assemblymember Alvarez.
Pollution elimination requests
The organizations’ letter puts forth nine provisions to resolve the crisis and protect communities along the U.S.-Mexico border.
In the days after this request, representatives also told Greer there is a continued urgency and need for cooperation with Mexico to address the crisis in a July 24 letter also calling for “enforceable environmental standards and a rapid response mechanism for violations of the minute treaties and wastewater spills that can and should be avoided with every possible measure available.” Representatives have also stressed the need for Mexico’s funding commitments in a letter to Greer on April 28.
The delegation’s most recent letter follows another letter sent in December before the Trump Administration stated they would not renew the USMCA, according to Shaina Tigar, Rep. Scott Peters’ press secretary.
Tigar said the letter sent by the San Diego organizations reflects the same project priorities included in the delegation’s letter.
Previous to that, Sen. Steve Padilla introduced Senate Joint Resolution 13 urging the U.S. to halt extension of the USMCA until enforceable and measurable commitments to eliminate chronic transboundary sewage discharges into the Tijuana River Watershed are secured from Mexico.
Provision No. 1 calls for measurable environmental benchmarks, timelines, accountability measures to eliminate transboundary sewage pollution and enforceable penalties for infrastructure failures resulting in pollution discharges.
“Continued participation in USMCA should be contingent upon demonstrated compliance with these commitments,” said the organizations’ letter.
Aguirre said U.S. trade representatives need to fight harder rather than relying on Mexico’s commitments to fixes.
During Aguirre’s tenure as mayor of Imperial Beach, the city (like Coronado) passed a resolution urging the restrictions on water exportation and cross-border traffic if Mexico did not clean up the sewage problem.
“I was against closing the border because that would be like shooting ourselves in the foot,” Aguirre told The Coronado News. “That was the one provision that I did not support in the resolution. … Closing the border doesn’t harm Mexico alone, it harms us because we depend on that economic trade.”
Trade experts told TIME that increasing friction between participating USMCA countries can make things more expensive in the U.S., however deep trade ties likely guarantee a continued relationship.
“We have an opportunity at our fingertips right now, as the USMCA is under review, to transition to an economy based on protecting what we hold most dear rather than exploiting it,” said Sarah Davidson, manager of Surfrider Foundation’s Clean Border Water Now program. “… Let’s not waste it.”
