treaty legal definition

An agreement or compact between two or more sovereign nations for the benefit of those nations. In the case of the United States, that agreement must address external interests of the country, as distinguished from those of a purely internal kind. The president of the United States has the sole power to make treaties with the advice and consent of the Senate. Individual states are prohibited from making treaties, and once a treaty is ratified by the Senate, it becomes binding on all of the states under the supremacy clause. See also treaty clause.