Sweden–United States relations
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![]() Sweden |
![]() United States |
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Diplomatic mission | |
Embassy of Sweden, Washington, D.C. | Embassy of the United States, Stockholm |
Envoy | |
Ambassador Karin Olofsdotter | Ambassador Erik Ramanathan |
The relations between
In the 1800s, relations were largely cordial.
During the Cold War, Sweden did not join NATO and maintained a neutral status between the Western and Eastern Bloc, although its democratic and mixed capitalist approach was generally more in tune with the West and the United States. After the end of the Vietnam War, which was deeply unpopular in Sweden, relations between the two countries improved. The two countries have been largely friendly to each other since. United States supports Sweden's NATO membership. Under a comprehensive mandate, Sweden's nonalignment policy has led it to serve as the protecting power for the United States and to represent Washington in North Korea on consular matters.[2] U.S. President Joe Biden approved the NATO membership of Finland and Sweden in August 2022.[3]
History
Colonies and early United States
Like many European powers,
Sweden under king
In 1783 the United States' Ambassador to Paris,
From 1801-02, Sweden was allied with the United States during the
Emigration
During the period between 1820–1930 approximately 1.3 million Swedes, a third of the country's population,
Worsening relations
The first Swedish head of government who met with a US President was Prime Minister Tage Erlander, who visited Harry S. Truman at the White House in 1952.
The period between 1960 and 1968 also marked a cold period in the political relations between Sweden and the U.S., mainly due to the Swedish government's vocal opposition to the
Warmer period


Relations improved when Thorbjörn Fälldin became Swedish prime minister in 1976, and following the assassination of Olof Palme in 1986 and the succession of Ingvar Carlsson as new Prime Minister, Swedish-American relations improved. Ingvar Carlsson met with President Ronald Reagan in 1987, the first time that a Swedish Prime Minister was invited to the White House since 1961, when Erlander paid a visit to Kennedy.
Carlsson's successor as Prime Minister, Carl Bildt, visited both President George H. W. Bush in 1992 and President Bill Clinton in 1994.
Immediately after the
In the Statement of Government Policy presented to the Riksdag on October 6, 2006, the new centre-right Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt declared that the new government will work for a "strengthening of the transatlantic link". Reinfeldt's party, the Moderate Party, is more pro-American than the social democrats and supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq and Swedish membership of NATO. Reinfeldt visited President Bush at the White House on May 15, 2007.
According to a 2012 Gallup poll, 36% of Swedes approve of U.S. leadership, with 30% disapproving and 34% uncertain.[11]
Following President
In June 2019, American rapper ASAP Rocky, real name Rakim Mayers, was arrested and held on remand in Sweden over a physical altercation in Stockholm. President Donald Trump made several tweets where he demanded that the Swedish government release Mayers. A spokesperson for prime minister Löfven released a statement in response to Trump's request which stated that the government was not allowed to influence legal proceedings in Sweden and that "everyone is equal before the law".[16]
Relations
Economic
The United States and Sweden have strong economic relations. The United States is, as of 2022, the third-largest Swedish export trade partner,[17] and U.S. companies are the most represented foreign companies in Sweden.
Military
Although Sweden has a longstanding policy of political neutrality in international affairs, Sweden decided to apply for full membership of

During the Cold War, the Swedish government secretly made preparations to receive military aid from the United States in case of Soviet aggression.[18]
Sweden also aided the US in secrecy, possibly most famously when four Swedish pilots were awarded US Air Medals for saving the highly classified
Cultural links
Reflecting the fact that Sweden has a higher proportion of English speakers than most other countries which were never part of the British Empire, Swedish producers and songwriters have played a significant role in the sound of American pop music since the 1990s. One in particular, Max Martin, has written and produced more Billboard Hot 100 number one hits than any American songwriter or producer.[21]
List of visits
Guest | Host | Place of visit | Date of visit |
---|---|---|---|
Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf - Later King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden.
|
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John Ericsson National Memorial & , Washington, D.C.
The White House |
May 29, 1926 |
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Wilmington, Delaware Springwood, Hyde Park, New York |
June 27, 1938 July 1, 1938 |
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White House, Washington, D.C. | April 14, 1952 |
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White House, Washington, D.C. | November 24, 1954 |
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White House, Washington, D.C. | March 29, 1961 |
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King Gustaf VI Adolf
|
Uppsala Cathedral & Uppsala Castle, Uppsala, Sweden | September 29, 1961 |
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Sofiero Palace, Helsingborg, Sweden Kanslihuset, Stockholm, Sweden |
September 4, 1963 September 5, 1963 | |
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Mrs. John F. Kennedy
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Cathedral of St. Matthews & , Washington, D.C.
The White House |
November 25, 1963 |
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White House, Washington, D.C. | April 5, 1976[22] |
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White House, Washington, D.C. | January 18, 1979 |
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Kanslihuset, Stockholm, Sweden | May 1979 |
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White House, Washington, D.C. | November 22, 1981 |
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Rosenbad, Stockholm, Sweden | June 27, 1983 |
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King Carl XVI Gustaf
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Stockholm, Sweden | June 1987 |
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White House, Washington, D.C. | September 9, 1987 |
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White House, Washington, D.C. | April 11, 1988 |
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White House, Washington, D.C. | February 20, 1992 |
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White House, Washington, D.C. | December 1, 1993 |
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White House, Washington, D.C. | August 6, 1996 |
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Svenska Mässan, Gothenburg , Sweden
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June 14, 2001 | |
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White House, Washington, D.C. | December 3, 2001 |
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White House, Washington, D.C. | April 28, 2004 |
King Carl XVI Gustaf
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White House, Washington, D.C. | October 23, 2006 |
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White House, Washington, D.C. | May 15, 2007 |
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White House, Washington, D.C. | November 2, 2009 |
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, Sweden | September 4–5, 2013 | |
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White House, Washington, D.C., Arlington National Cemetery[23] | May 13, 2016[24] |
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White House, Washington, D.C. | March 6, 2018 |
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White House, Washington, D.C. | March 16, 2022 |
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White House, Washington, D.C. | July 5, 2023 |
See also
- Foreign relations of Sweden
- Foreign relations of the United States
- Embassy of Sweden, Washington, D.C.
- Ambassadors of Sweden to the United States
- Ambassadors of the United States to Sweden
- Swedish response to Hurricane Katrina
References
- JSTOR 1919238– via JSTOR.
- ^ "About the Embassy". Embassy of Sweden, Pyongyang. Archived from the original on April 23, 2020. Retrieved March 16, 2017.
In particular, Sweden functions as Protective Power for the United States ... including consular responsibility for citizens.
- ^ "Biden signs ratification documents approving NATO membership for Finland and Sweden". CNBC. August 9, 2022.
- ^ "American Memory from the Library of Congress". Memory.loc.gov. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
- ^ "First Barbary War". Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. August 2011. Retrieved June 17, 2020.
- ^ "Swedish History - Hans Högman". www.hhogman.se.
- ^ a b Andersson, Stellan. "Olof Palme och Vietnamfrågan 1965–1983" (in Swedish). olofpalme.org. Retrieved February 27, 2008.
- ^ "Utrikesminister Anna Lindh med anledning av terrorattacken i USA | Press & info | Utrikesdepartementet | Departement | Regeringskansliet". Archived from the original on November 9, 2001.
- ^ "Riksdagens snabbprotokoll 2001/02:13 Onsdagen den 17 oktober Protokoll 2001/02:13 - Riksdagen". Riksdagen.se. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ "THE U.S.-GLOBAL LEADERSHIP PROJECT : A PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN THE MERIDIAN INTERNATIONAL CENTER AND GALLUP" (PDF). Gallup.com. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
- ^ Topping, Alexandra. "'Sweden, who would believe this?': Trump cites non-existent terror attack". The Guardian. Retrieved February 19, 2017.
- ^ Jennifer Calfas (February 19, 2017), "Sweden offers to teach Trump about its immigration policies", The Hill, retrieved February 23, 2017
- ^ Embassy of Sweden US [@SwedeninUSA] (February 19, 2017). "We look forward to informing the US administration about Swedish immigration and integration policies" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "Facts about migration and crime in Sweden". Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. February 23, 2017. Archived from the original on February 24, 2017. Retrieved February 24, 2017.
- ^ "A$AP Rocky: Donald Trump demands Sweden release US rapper charged with assault". Sky News. Retrieved July 27, 2019.
- ^ "Exports to our 30 largest trade partners". Statistiska Centralbyrån. August 27, 2020. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
- ^ SOU 1994:11 Om kriget kommit... Förberedelser för mottagande av militärt bistånd 1949–1969
- ^ "Cold War declassified: Swedish pilots honored for protecting crippled US spy plane from Soviets". Stars and Stripes.
- ^ Rempfer, Kyle (December 31, 2018). "Finally declassified: Swedish pilots awarded US Air Medals for saving SR-71 spy plane". Air Force Times.
- ^ "The Weeknd's 'Can't Feel My Face' Gives Max Martin His 21st No. 1 on Billboard Hot 100". Billboard.
- Gerald R. Ford Library, Accessed on May 17, 2010
- ^ Holmqvist, Anette (May 13, 2016). "Stefan Löfven anländer till Vita huset" [Stefan Löfven arrives at the White House]. Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved May 13, 2016.
- ^ "Statement by the Press Secretary on the U.S.-Nordic Leaders Summit". White House Office of the Press Secretary. March 18, 2016. Retrieved May 13, 2016.
Further reading
- Adamson, R. "Swedish iron exports to the United States, 1783–1860" Scandinavian Economic History Review, (1969) 17(1), 58–114.
- Biltekin, Nevra. "Migrating women and transnational relations: Swedish-American connections since the 1920s." Scandinavian Journal of History (2021): 1-19. online
- Blanck, Dag, and Adam Hjorthén, eds. Swedish-American Borderlands: New Histories of Transatlantic Relations (U of Minnesota Press, 2021).
- Blanck, Dag. "'Very Welcome Home Mr. Swanson': Swedish Americans Encounter Homeland Swedes." American Studies in Scandinavia 48.2 (2016): 107-121. online On the 250,000 who went to USA but returned to Sweden.
- Kastrup, Allan. "Swedish heritage in America" (1975) online
- Kronvall, Olof. "US–Scandinavian Relations Since 1940." in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics. (Oxford University Press, 2020)
- Mays, Christin. "Have Money, Will Travel. Scholarships and Academic Exchange between Sweden and the United States, 1912-1980 (Uppsala: Uppsala University Press, 2022).
- Müller, Leos. “Swedish-American Trade and the Swedish Consular Service, 1780-1840,” International Journal of Maritime History 14#1 (2002) 173–188.
- O’Dell, Tom. Culture Unbound: Americanization and Everyday Life in Sweden (Lund: Nordic Academic Press, 1997).
External links
