Forum: politics.stackexchange.com
Tags: <united-states><international-relations><foreign-policy><us-state-laws>
Title: Since they have large autonomy, are U.S. states responsible for international policy and relations in any way?
Question: I never see States' representatives at international meetings or in any diplomatic relations. Are they responsible in any way for foreign policy?

Answers:
sents: text: Almost the entirety of foreign policy apparatus is laid out and reserved in Articles 1 and 2 of the Constitution, and therefore inherent in the Congress and the Presidency.
text: For example the President has the power, with advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint Ambassadors, is Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces.
text: Similarly the Congress can declare war.
text: The treaty power is shared among them.
text: Article 4,
text: section 4 of the Constitution does allow for this: The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened) against domestic violence.
text: You can see it is limited in scope, and actually centralizes the foreign policy apparatus in the federal government in addition to Articles 1 and 2.
text: We also have the Tenth Amendment that reads: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
text: The Tenth Amendment allows states to engage in trade missions with countries.
text: Here is a Massachusetts example.
text: Note that limits on what they can and can't negotiate.
text: These sojourns certainly are not unusual: Cassey studied a decade-long period starting in the mid-1990s and found about 500 trade missions led by governors nationwide, with more than 40 states launching at least one.
text: “Governors tend to go to the places where there are already strong relationships,” Cassey said.
text: Business leaders say it’s particularly important that the governor personally participate in the trips, rather than send emissaries.
text: A governor’s trade mission can close deals and open doors.
text: These trips create deadlines to finalize a business deal or an expansion plan, to ensure the politicians have success stories to unveil during their tour.
text: And a governor, as the state’s most prominent elected official, can line up in-person meetings with hard-to-get political officials and business executives.
text: Finally you have the Logan Act, which was established to prevent anyone from separately creating foreign policy other than the federal government.
text: Wikipedia has a good enough summary: The Logan Act (1 Stat.
text: 613, 18 U.S.C. § 953, enacted January 30, 1799) is a United States federal law that forbids unauthorized citizens from negotiating with foreign governments having a dispute with the U.S.
text: It was intended to prevent the undermining of the government's position.
text: The Act was passed following George Logan's unauthorized negotiations with France in 1798, and was signed into law by President John Adams on January 30, 1799.
text: The Act was last amended in 1994, and violation of the Logan Act is a felony.
answer_details: author: politics.stackexchange.com/users/9790/K Dog
score: 15
sents: text: To a large extent, states are explicitly banned from conducting most types of foreign relations by the U.S. Constitution, unless they get the consent of Congress first: No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation ; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility.
text: No state shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports , except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it's inspection laws: and the net produce of all duties and imposts, laid by any state on imports or exports, shall be for the use of the treasury of the United States; and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of the Congress.
text: No state shall, without the consent of Congress , lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops, or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another state, or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay.
text: -- Article I, Section 10 of the Constitution of the United States of America (emphasis mine)
answer_details: author: politics.stackexchange.com/users/4846/reirab
score: 8
sents: text: No, states defer to the federal government for foreign policy: defense, treaties, diplomats/embassies, etc.
text: State governments may be involved with foreign businesses; for example, a state might negotiate with a business and offer tax incentives for the business to open an office or factory within the state and higher employees.
text: But official foreign policy is a function of the federal government.
answer_details: author: politics.stackexchange.com/users/4753/jalynn2
score: 2
sents: text: Since they have large autonomy technically the states are set up as "sovereigns" where the feds have only "enumerated" jobs and everything else goes to the states.
text: in reality, the states are much closer to "provinces" than "states / sovereigns".
answer_details: author: politics.stackexchange.com/users/11511/dannyf
score: 2
sents: text: As a small-scale example, the reciprocal drivers license program Japan has is granted on a state-by-state basis, because driving laws and road tests, etc.
text: differ from state to state. https://www.seattle.us.emb-japan.go.jp/itpr_en/00_000235.html
answer_details: author: politics.stackexchange.com/users/25245/Frustrated driver
score: 2
sents: text: Only countries have foreign policies.
text: As Google defines it, a government's strategy in dealing with other nations.
text: And Wikipedia's definition :
text: A country's foreign policy, also called foreign relations or foreign affairs -policy, consists of self-interest strategies chosen by the state to safeguard its national interests and to achieve goals within its international relations milieu.
text: Since states are not nations and they still belong to the United States, they won't have their own foreign policy.
text: Imagine each state negotiate their own policy, it would result in a very divided country with no clear direction.
text: The only exception I can think of would be the Special Administration Regions of China which includes Hong Kong and Macau, however they still follow China's broad policy and direction.
answer_details: author: politics.stackexchange.com/users/9638/Panda
score: 1

Summary of the answers:
States defer to the federal government for foreign policy: defense, treaties, diplomats/embassies, etc.
Foreign policy is decided by the federal government.