In February, President Trump issued an executive order pulling the United States out of the U.N. Human Rights Council. Less widely noted were other provisions in the order mandating a review of “all conventions and treaties to which the United States is a party” in order to determine which “are contrary to the interests of the United States.”

Some might see the review launched by the order as consistent with Trump’s promise, during his inaugural address, that “our sovereignty will be reclaimed." Hopefully, those carrying out this review for Secretary of State Marco Rubio understand that upholding America’s international law commitments serves to advance, not hinder, our national interests. They should recognize that Trump’s apparent belief that international law constitutes an infringement on American sovereignty reflects a basic misperception of how international law works.

International law operates very differently from the domestic legal systems we know from our day-to-day experience. For one, there is no global........

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