Leading for the first time entering the final day on American soil, Australia's debutant captain Geoff Ogilvy could only watch on as his men, including Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee, were swallowed up in a one-sided finale at Medinah Country Club in Chicago.
They had taken all five points to lead 7-3 after two days and, ahead 10.5 to 7.5 after three days, needed just five of 12 singles matches to go their way to win for the second time and first since 1998.
But it was all American red as nine of US captain Brandt Snedeker's men saluted - three winning one-up on the final hole - to claim an 11th straight Cup.
The 17-13 result capped the largest final-day comeback in the tournament's history, with the 11.5 points earned the most by any team on a day of Presidents Cup singles.
It was the latest frustrating near-miss for the Internationals, evoking memories of the final-day boilover at Royal Melbourne seven years ago.
Melbourne's Kingston Heath will host the next instalment in 2028.
"The US came out firing ... a couple of matches went up 18 ... it was on a knife edge all day," Ogilvy said.
"Some of those one-downs ... if they flip, the numbers look good. But it's a very difficult thing to beat the US in singles, in the US."
Scott's 12th Cup campaign ended in a gutting loss to Patrick Cantlay, while Lee missed short putts on the 16th and 17th, opening the door for Jacob Bridgeman to pinch the point on their final hole that secured victory for the US.
Tom Kim and Sunjae Im were early winners for the International team, over Wyndham Clark and Sam Burns respectively.
But Cameron Young, Scottie Scheffler - a surprise omission from Saturday's matches - and Justin Thomas easily collected points, before Chris Gotterup beat Christiaan Bezuidenhout on their final hole to get the US within one point.
Si Woo Kim then gave up a two-hole lead after the turn, losing by that margin to 21-year-old Jackson Koivon to further swing the tide.
Japan's Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama also gave up a lead, missing the fairway when scores were tied on the 18th to hand Collin Morikawa a point.
Scott had clawed back to within one in his duel with Cantlay, only for the American to drain a putt from off the green to lead by two with two to play.
He then missed a birdie putt to win the 17th hole and could only watch as Cantlay made par to secure the point and bring the US level on 12.5 points.
The US were then in front when Matsuyama missed the fairway on the final hole and Morikawa prevailed.
Lee, who had earned points on the previous two days, then had a short, breaking putt lip out on the 16th to trigger his, and the International's demise.
Bridgeman's point got them to 15.5 and rendered the two remaining matches on course redundant.
Xander Schauffele then twisted the knife with victory over Ryan Fox, before Nick Taylor and Russell Henley split their match.
Snedeker had copped criticism for his decision-making across the first three days.
"I was trying to put the guys in the right situations. We didn't get off to a good start, I took that really, really hard on myself," he said.
"I'm so proud of how they showed up today and kind of bailed me out."
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