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 Malta |  United States |
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According to a 2010 American Community Survey, there are roughly 35,103Maltese Americans residing in the United States.
According to the 2012 U.S. Global Leadership Report, 21% ofMaltese people approve of U.S. leadership, with 15% disapproving and 64% uncertain.[1]
At the time of theAmerican Revolutionary War which established the United States, Malta was ade facto independent vassal state ruled by theOrder of St. John. During the war, theFrench Navy included 1,800 Maltese and knights of the Order, who played a role during the decisiveBattle of the Chesapeake in 1781. Two years later, the United States Ambassador to FranceBenjamin Franklin presented aLibertas Americana medal to Grand MasterEmmanuel de Rohan-Polduc, thanking him for supporting the American cause. Franklin also asked de Rohan to allow American ships in Maltese ports, and the latter granted this request. The first United States Consul to Malta was appointed in 1796.[2]
John Pass (Pace), who recast theLiberty Bell in 1753, was of Maltese origin.[2]
During theFirst Barbary War of 1801–05, American ships were allowed to take in water and provisions from Maltese ports.[2]
According to Diane Andreassi:[3]
During the first decade of the nineteenth century American ships brought a variety of goods to Malta, including flour, rice, pepper, salted meat, rum, tobacco, and mahogany wood from Boston and Baltimore, as well as dried fruits, cotton, wax, pearls, goat hides, coffee, potatoes, drugs, and sponges from Smyrne and the Greek archipelago. Trade would rise and fall cyclically. Malta's biggest boon of American shipping was during the Crimean War, between 1854 and 1856, when Great Britain and France were fighting Russia. Malta also emerged as a stepping stone in the wool trade between Barbary and the United States because it received wool from different ports in North Africa for shipment to the United States. Later, American tobacco was shipped to Barbary and Sicily through Malta....Malta also imported petroleum, rum, pepper, flour, log-wood, pitch, resin, turpentine, coffee, sugar, cloves, codfish, wheat, cheese, butter, and lard. Meanwhile, the island nation exported to the United States goods such as olive oil, lemons, sulfur, ivory, salt, rags, goat skins, stoneware, soap, sponges, and donkeys.
DuringWorld War II, some American ships took part inOperation Pedestal, a British convoy meant to supply Malta with critical supplies in August 1942. Most notably, the American tankerSSOhio supplied crucial fuel and food to the islands. Later on in 1942, the aircraft carrierUSSWasp twice deliveredSpitfires to Malta.[2]
GeneralDwight D. Eisenhower and Italian Prime MinisterPietro Badoglio signed an armistice in September 1943 on boardHMSNelson while anchored in Malta'sGrand Harbour. Later on in 1943, U.S. PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt visited Malta described the island as "one tiny bright flame in the darkness – a beacon of hope for the clearer days which have come."[2]
Maltese Prime MinisterGeorge Borg Olivier met the US PresidentJohn F. Kennedy at theWhite House on 19 September 1963, a year before Malta's independence.[2]
Malta and the United States established fulldiplomatic relations upon Malta's independence in 1964; overall relations are positive. The United States has been sympathetic to Malta's campaign to attract privateinvestment, and some firms operating in Malta have U.S. ownership or investment. These include majorhotels,manufacturing and repair facilities, and some offices servicing local and regional operations.[citation needed]
The Maltese Prime MinisterEddie Fenech Adami met U.S. PresidentRonald Reagan at the White House in July 1988. On 2–3 December 1989, U.S. PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush met Soviet leaderMikhail Gorbachev at theMalta Summit inMarsaxlokk Bay, where they officially declared an end to theCold War.[2]
In 2005, the Maltese Prime MinisterLawrence Gonzi met U.S. PresidentGeorge W. Bush at the White House. Malta acted as an evacuation point for US and other citizens during theLibyan Civil War in 2011. That year, Secretary of StateHillary Clinton briefly visited Malta while returning from Libya. Prime MinisterJoseph Muscat met PresidentBarack Obama a number of times.[2]
On 10 August 2019, the governments of both Malta and the United States issued a joint statement emphasizing the countries' "friendship and close collaboration".[4]
The United States established its embassy in Malta in 1964. It was originally located in the capitalValletta, but it eventually moved toSliema. It moved toFloriana in 1974, and again to a new building inTa' Qali National Park inAttard in 2011.[2]
Malta has an embassy inWashington, D.C.
This article incorporatespublic domain material fromU.S. Bilateral Relations Fact Sheets.United States Department of State.
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