Meaning of executive agreement | Babel Free

Definitions

an agreement between the heads of government of two or more nations

Examples

“I constantly urged my visitors to remember⟳ that I was sworn to uphold⟳ the Constitution, and therefore their determination to make⟳ certain that nothing should be done to destroy⟳ it could be no greater than my own⟳. I began a practice of assuring visitors that I would support⟳ an amendment which would say⟳ only, but in unequivocal language, that any treaty or Executive agreement violating the Constitution would have⟳ no force⟳ and effect. Many who came to see⟳ me on the issue⟳ were satisfied by this answer⟳, but the more knowledgeable of the opponents quickly protested that even such a simple amendment might give⟳ to the courts opportunity to make⟳ some unpredictable interpretation.”

“The Shanghai Communique which Nixon signed with Chou En-lai on February 28, at the end⟳ of the visit⟳, presaged the "normalization of relations" between Peking and Washington seven years later. It was a most unusual document in diplomatic history in that it was signed between a U.S. President and the head of a government that had not been recognized. Normally, it would not have⟳ the force⟳ of even an executive agreement. And yet, as subsequent events proved, it turned out to be more binding on the U.S. Government than had it been a treaty ratified by two-thirds of the U.S. Senate. In the end⟳ it led to the abrogation, at the end⟳ of December, 1979, of the Mutual Defense Treaty with the Republic of China.”

“The Constitution gives the president the power to negotiate⟳ treaties, which must then be approved by a two-thirds majority in the Senate. But the president can also issue⟳ an executive order⟳ to finalise an accord without Senate consent; such executive agreements constitute about 90 percent of all US international treaties, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. Any deal⟳ signed by US President Barack Obama but not congressionally approved would be "nothing more than an executive agreement between President Barack Obama and [Iran’s supreme leader] Ayatollah Khamenei", the senators wrote. "The next president could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen and future Congresses could modify⟳ the terms of the agreement at any time," they warned.”

CEFR level