Sweden and the United States

Neutrality, Diplomatic Disagreement, and Alliance

Sweden recognized the United States through the Treaty of Amity and Commerce signed on 3 April 1783. The agreement did not immediately create a resident American mission in Stockholm: Benjamin Franklin, appointed to represent the United States to Sweden, remained in Paris. Consular appointments and the exchange of treaty ratifications followed their own timetable. Resident diplomatic representation came later. Jonathan Russell’s presentation of credentials on 29 April 1818 established diplomatic relations with the court of Sweden and Norway, then joined under one monarch. [1]

The union with Norway was itself a diplomatic responsibility of the Swedish mission. In November 1905, Minister A. Grip notified Washington that negotiations at Karlstad had produced an agreement to dissolve it. Sweden’s king had recognized Norway as a separate state and renounced the Norwegian crown. [4]

During the Second World War, Swedish neutrality also enabled cooperation with an American rescue initiative. The U.S. War Refugee Board recruited Raoul Wallenberg in June 1944, and Sweden gave him diplomatic status for work in Budapest. His protective documents and interventions helped save Hungarian Jews from Nazi persecution. The undertaking connected American funding and policy with the access and protection available to a neutral diplomatic mission. [7]

The sharpest modern interruption concerned the level of representation rather than the existence of relations. After Olof Palme’s statement on the bombing of Hanoi in December 1972, Washington withheld a new ambassador and declined to receive Sweden’s designated ambassador, Yngve Möller. He never took up the Washington post. Sweden’s official historical inquiry describes restrictions on senior political contacts alongside continued technical, commercial, scientific, and military dealings. In March 1974, the Nixon administration decided to normalize ambassadorial exchanges. [2]

Sweden’s military non-alignment later coexisted with increasingly close practical cooperation. It joined NATO’s Partnership for Peace in 1994 and the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council in 1997, and contributed to NATO-led missions in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq. These arrangements built habits of cooperation with the United States and other allies before Sweden sought membership following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. [8]

Sweden’s accession to NATO gave the relationship a new treaty setting on 7 March 2024. The decisive act was the deposit of Sweden’s instrument of accession with the United States government in Washington, the treaty’s depositary. The Swedish flag was raised at NATO headquarters four days later. [3] [2]

Defence, Research, and Practical Cooperation

Bilateral defence cooperation developed alongside that multilateral relationship. Sweden and the United States signed a statement of intent in 2016 and a trilateral statement with Finland in 2018. Pål Jonson and Lloyd Austin signed the Defence Cooperation Agreement on 5 December 2023. After Swedish parliamentary approval, it entered into force on 15 August 2024, regulating access to facilities, the legal status of American personnel, and prepositioned materiel. The agreement requires activities to respect Swedish sovereignty and consent. [9]

Scientific cooperation developed through its own institutions. In April 2024, Vinnova and the Swedish Research Council signed a five year memorandum with the American National Science Foundation covering fields such as advanced wireless networks, artificial intelligence, and quantum science. Swedish consular and innovation offices in California participated in the effort. [6]