Oh I might have misspoken, what I meant by "the states" was "The United States" rather than "the individual states". I think capitalizing it as "The States" or even "the States" should be sufficient to distinguish it correctly in the future.
On another topic, I think neither individuals nor the states, have sovereignity over the land, only The State has. But I may be mistaken.
No one is saying states don’t have the right.
States can go even further. They can decide to exit economic unions, trade agreements, etc. You have sovereignty.
Everyone knows you have freedom to play cards as you see fit. Everyone who understands how the game is played, will also make moves accordingly.
There’s nothing to be defensive about.