Lithuania–United States relations are bilateral relations between Lithuania and the United States. Lithuania is one of the most pro-American nations in Europe and the world, with 73% of Lithuanians viewing the U.S. positively in 2011. According to the 2012 U.S. Global Leadership Report, 48% of Lithuanians approve of U.S. leadership, with 20% disapproving and 32% uncertain.
History
The United States established diplomatic relations with Lithuania on July 28, 1922. The Soviet invasion forced the closure of the Legation to Lithuania on September 5, 1940, but Lithuanian representation in the United States continued uninterrupted. The United States never recognized the forcible incorporation of Lithuania into the USSR and views the present government of Lithuania as a legal continuation of the interwar republic. In 2007, the United States and Lithuania celebrated 85 years of continuous diplomatic relations. Lithuania has enjoyed most-favored-nation treatment with the United States since December 1991. Since 1992, the United States has committed more than $100 million in Lithuania to economic and political transformation and to humanitarian needs. The United States and Lithuania signed an agreement on bilateral trade and intellectual property protection in 1994 and a bilateral investment treaty in 1997. In 1998, the United States signed a "Charter of Partnership" with Lithuania and the other Baltic countries establishing bilateral working groups focusing on improving regional security, defense, and economic issues. Today, over 650,000 individuals who identify as Lithuanian American live in the United States. Lithuanian immigration began before the United States even became a country, with individuals like Alexander Curtius settling in New Amsterdam in 1659. Lithuania was part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1795, when it was largely incorporated into the Russian Empire. Despite attempts by the Tsarist government in Moscow to prevent residents of the empire from emigrating, many Lithuanians came to the United States throughout the 19th and early 20th Centuries, settling primarily in the Northeast and the Midwest. Lithuanian immigration tapered off with the passage of nativist legislation like the Emergency Quota Act of 1921 and the Immigration Act of 1924 in Congress. Smaller waves of Lithuanian migration to the United States occurred at the end of World War II and when Lithuania regained independence following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1990. Principal U.S. officials include:
