U.S. State Commitments with Foreign Governments

This database collects the full text of over 750 commitments entered into by various U.S. states with foreign governments to cooperate on issues ranging from economic development to environmental protection. Some examples of these commitments include:

• a 2019 memorandum of understanding between Maryland and the United Kingdom to support trade relations
• a 2019 “sister state” agreement between New Jersey and the Indian state of Gujarat to foster cultural and economic ties
• a high-profile agreement between California and the Canadian province of Québec to curb CO2 emissions, signed in 2017

These commitments and others like them offer benefits such as:

• enabling states to address challenges that wouldn't be possible without foreign cooperation
• avoiding the gridlock and delay that can plague federal lawmaking
• establishing states as global participants 

But they also offer potential risks. They could:

• generate mixed messages about U.S. foreign policy
• conflict with federal statutes or foreign policy
• violate Article I, Section 10 of the Constitution
• facilitate foreign subversion of U.S. national interests

Despite these stakes, federal (and most state) law does not require states to disclose their commitments to Congress or the public.

This database represents the first attempt to collect these state commitments. Most of the 750 commitments have never before been published. Furthermore, select commitments are annotated by the editor, providing additional insight to these fascinating and little-understood documents.

Visit Database