Although Congress ratifies treaties, the president can do a “treaty-lite” without Congress’s buy-in. Presidents can negotiate what is called an executive agreement, which, like a treaty, is between the United States and a foreign country. There is no substantive distinction between the two—an executive agreement can accomplish precisely the same things as a treaty—but the former does not require Senate ratification. And “[n]ever in American history has the Supreme Court declared an executive agreement unconstitutional as usurping the Senate’s treaty-approving function.”
