General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The Trans-Pacific Partnership looks like a giant step toward the end of sovereign nations. [View all]pampango
(24,692 posts)negotiated in secret. If negotiators from all sides reach an agreement, it is presented to the Senate (for treaties) or both the House and Senate (for other international agreements).
Most recently our negotiations with Iran about their nuclear capability (though not the kind of agreement that needs congressional approval - fortunately since there seem to be a lot of Senators including many Democrats who would not have ratified it) was pretty much done in secret.
I don't like the secrecy. I think Woodrow Wilson had a better concept with his "Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at, after which there shall be no private international understandings of any kind but diplomacy shall proceed always frankly and in the public view."
Unfortunately that did not work after WWI, since the UK and France ignored him, and cooked up the Treaty of Versailles in secret. AFAIK, openly negotiated treaties have been a pretty rare occurrence since then. I wish it were not like that.