Sovereignty and International Law

A quote from NZ trade minister Tim Groser:

"Of course trade agreements involve concessions over the sovereign rights of countries to do things," he told the Weekend Herald. " That's the point of international law."

New Zealand's problem had been the "excess sovereignty" other countries had exerted over it, such as introducing export subsidies, when it tried to diversify its markets away from Europe.

"Because we have operated in agriculture, in particular, where there were such inadequate legal frameworks internationally, people have just screwed us.

"We needed to control their sovereign right to do whatever suited their fancy. The whole point of international law is to put limits around countries' sovereignty on the basis of negotiated understandings."

It is no doubt true that international law constrains sovereignty to some extent.  I'm just not used to hearing government officals say it so bluntly!  I'm trying to imagine the repercussions if a U.S. official said this ...