Fact check/Would it be almost unprecedented for Donald Trump to terminate the Iran nuclear deal?
January 16, 2017
By Fact Check by Ballotpedia staff
Responding to a question during a BBC interview about the possibility of the United States withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal after Donald Trump becomes president, CIA Director John Brennan said, "For one administration to tear up an agreement that a previous administration made would be almost unprecedented."[1]
Is Brennan correct? Would it be “almost unprecedented” for a president to terminate an international agreement made by his predecessor?
Brennan is incorrect. Presidents have terminated international agreements made by earlier administrations.
Background: international agreements
The U.S. Constitution empowers the president to conduct foreign policy and to enter into international agreements. International agreements fall into two categories—treaties and executive agreements.[2]
Treaties must be approved by a two-thirds vote of the Senate before ratification documents are signed by member countries.[3] Article VI of the Constitution designates treaties as “the supreme Law of the Land.”
Executive agreements do not require Senate approval, but Congress generally requires notification when the president enters into one.[4] The Constitution does not mention executive agreements, but the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized the authority of the president to negotiate them.[2]
Presidents also have the authority to enter “political commitments,” which are executive agreements that are not legally binding.[3] According to the State Department, such agreements are “promise[s] to honor” commitments made in an international document, and not binding under either U.S. or international law.[3] [5] The Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, is a non-binding political commitment.[6]
The U.S. entered into at least 18,500 executive agreements between 1789 and 1999, with 17,300 of them made after 1938, according to the State Department. Between 1789 and 1999, the U.S. entered into approximately 1,100 treaties.[2]
Terminating international agreements
To determine if it would be “unprecedented” for a president to terminate an international agreement made by a previous administration, Ballotpedia consulted The American Presidency Project of the University of California Santa Barbara, a leading source of presidential documents online.[7] At least five presidents—Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush—have terminated executive agreements entered into by previous administrations, according to Ballotpedia's review of presidential statements.
| Examples of terminated executive agreements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Executive agreement | President who made the agreement | President who terminated the agreement |
| Turkish trade agreement[8] | Franklin Roosevelt | Harry Truman |
| Ecuadoran trade agreement[9] | Franklin Roosevelt | Dwight Eisenhower |
| Brazil trade agreement[10] | Franklin Roosevelt | John Kennedy |
| Agreement concerning hide exports and other trade matters with Argentina[11] | Jimmy Carter | Ronald Reagan |
| Kyoto Protocol[12] | Bill Clinton | George W. Bush |
| Source: The American Presidency Project | ||
Presidents have also terminated treaties. A study by Curtis A. Bradley published in the Texas Law Review found that at least 9 presidents have fully terminated U.S. participation in treaties without seeking the approval of either the Senate or the full Congress.[13] According to Bradley, “Whereas it was generally understood throughout the nineteenth century that the termination of treaties required congressional involvement, the consensus on this issue disappeared in the early parts of the twentieth century, and today it is widely (although not uniformly) accepted that presidents have a unilateral power of treaty termination.”
The most recent president to terminate U.S. participation in both types of international agreements made by previous presidents was George W. Bush. One of the executive agreements President Bush cancelled was the Kyoto Protocol, which had been signed by the Clinton Administration on November 12, 1998.[14] The protocol is an international agreement to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases believed to be related to climate change.[15] Following the signing, the State Department published a notification that the first provisions of the protocol had “[e]ntered into force.”[16] President Bush was critical of the protocol, which he described as “fatally flawed in fundamental ways,” and preferred to pursue other options regarding emissions.[17] [18]
President Bush also withdrew the U.S. from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.[19] The treaty between the U.S. and the Soviet Union limited the number of anti-ballistic missiles and related facilities that each party could possess.[20]
Conclusion
During an interview with the BBC, CIA Director John Brennan was asked about the possibility that as president, Donald Trump would withdraw the United States from the Iran nuclear deal. “For one administration to tear up an agreement that a previous administration made would be almost unprecedented,” he said.[1]
Brennan is incorrect. A review of presidential documents determined that at least 5 presidents have terminated international agreements entered into as executive agreements. A study published by the Texas Law Review found that 9 presidents had withdrawn the United States from international treaties without seeking the approval of either the Senate or the full Congress.
See also
- Fact check/Can the United States change the Iran nuclear deal?
- Iran nuclear agreement: An overview
- Iran nuclear agreement: Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
Launched in October 2015 and active through October 2018, Fact Check by Ballotpedia examined claims made by elected officials, political appointees, and political candidates at the federal, state, and local levels. We evaluated claims made by politicians of all backgrounds and affiliations, subjecting them to the same objective and neutral examination process. As of 2025, Ballotpedia staff periodically review these articles to revaluate and reaffirm our conclusions. Please email us with questions, comments, or concerns about these articles. To learn more about fact-checking, click here.
Sources and Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 BBC News, “CIA chief warns Trump: Scrapping Iran deal 'height of folly',” November 30, 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Congressional Research Service, “International Law and Agreements: Their Effect upon U.S. Law,” February 18, 2015
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 United States Senate, “Treaties,” accessed January 10, 2017
- ↑ Congressional Research Service, “Treaties and Other International Agreements: The Role of the United States Senate,” January 2001
- ↑ U.S. Department of State, “International Documents of a Non-Legally Binding Character,” accessed November 17, 2016
- ↑ Ballotpedia, “Fact check: Can the United States change the Iran nuclear deal?” December 1, 2016
- ↑ University of California Santa Barbara, “The American Presidency Project,” accessed January 10, 2017
- ↑ The American Presidency Project, "Proclamation 2982—Terminating the Turkish Trade Agreement Proclamations," July 18, 1952
- ↑ The American Presidency Project, “Proclamation 3111—Termination of Ecuadoran Trade Agreement Proclamation,” August 27, 1955
- ↑ The American Presidency Project, “Proclamation 3513—Proclamation of Certain Agreements Supplementary to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and Termination of Certain Trade Agreement Proclamations,” December 28, 1962
- ↑ The American Presidency Project, “Proclamation 4993—Termination in Part of the Proclamations Carrying Out the Agreement Between the Governments of the United States of America and Argentina Concerning Hide Exports and Other Trade Matters,” October 29, 1982
- ↑ The American Presidency Project, “Letter to Members of the Senate on the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change,” March 13, 2001
- ↑ Those presidents are: Calvin Coolidge, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy,Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush. Texas Law Review, “Treaty Termination and Historical Gloss,” 2014
- ↑ United Nations, "Status of Ratification of the Kyoto Protocol," accessed January 10, 2017
- ↑ Congressional Research Service, "Global Climate Change: The Kyoto Protocol," October 27, 2004
- ↑ U.S. Department of State, "1998 Treaty Actions," accessed January 10, 2017
- ↑ The White House, “President Bush Discusses Global Climate Change,” June 11, 2001
- ↑ U.S. Department of State, “Bush Will Not Require Power Plants to Reduce Carbon Emissions,” March 13, 2001
- ↑ National Defense University, “U.S. Withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty,” January 2010
- ↑ U.S. Department of State, “Treaty between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems,” October 3, 1972
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