Apart from the UK what other countries do you believe the United States has close relationships with politically, culturally, economically, or militarily etc?

36 comments

  1. Australia, japan and Canada. You could make the argument for nations like the Philippines too

  3. Like, a side piece?

    This isn’t really a “belief” thing, we have well established and extremely public diplomatic relations [with most of the world](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_relations_of_the_United_States). NATO gives us responsibilities and alliances. We’re “close” with France, Germany, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Canada, etc…

    Maybe “special relationship” means something I’m not understanding here?

  4. I’ve never heard the term “special relationship” used about a country other than the UK. I suppose the other countries settled in large part by British immigrants-Canada, Australia etc. Also our relationships with South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Israel could be considered out of the ordinary; to a lesser extent this applies to all of NATO. The Philippines has had a strong US influence since the Spanish-American war. We and the French have taken the same side in many wars, starting with their aid in the Revolutionary War, and especially in the 1800s they influenced us culturally.

  5. Canada

    There are some cultural similarities that more liberal Americans lean into. We also have a strong trade and security relationship. It’s also a well-managed Anglophone country in a hemisphere dominated by poorly managed Latin countries.

  6. Canada.

    Other close relations would be w the rest of NATO, South Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, and Taiwan.

  7. The FVEY countries (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States).

    *Neither the sure prevention of war, nor the continuous rise of world organisation will be gained without what I have called the fraternal association of the English-speaking peoples.* Winston Churchill

  8. I think the other Anglo nations work closest with the United States. Save maybe New Zealand but we’re still close with them comparatively.

  9. The “Five Eyes”/Anglosphere are probably the most culturally similar, and our governments have extensive intelligence-sharing procedures. That would be USA, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Of these, Canada is probably the closest, even down to us having a shared air-defense network (NORAD).

    France is the US’s oldest ally, but they fiercely guard their independence, so we don’t have as close of cooperation with them. There’s more cultural difference with them than with the Anglosphere.

  10. Regardless of anyone’s opinion on current events, Israel is an incredibly important ally for the United States both geopolitically and militarily.

  11. Starting with the closest, it’s probably Canada, UK, Australia, and New Zealand. Outside of that, most of the NATO members have strong ties with the US, along with South Korea, Japan, Israel, Taiwan, and the Philippines.

    Not very many people are aware, but some of the Pacific island nations (Palau, Marshall Islands, Micronesia) have close ties to the US under the Compact of Free Association. They use the US dollar as currency, and the US military provides their defense. People from those countries can freely live and work in the US and vice versa, similar to the Schengen Area in Europe.

  14. Japan, Canada, South Korea, Israel. We have military bases all over too, Spain, Germany, Italy to name a few. We export our culture all over the world and we provide military aid to all our allies and assist in lots of peace keeping operations globally such as, protecting shipping lanes, training ally troops, providing troops for UN peace keeping operations and more. It’s part of what makes us a super power

  16. Everyone is giving really good answers.

    I would say that the United States and France has a very, very special relationship, as well.

    France is the reason why the United States won it’s independence in the revolutionary war, and the reason why the USA won the 1812 war. Those wars were proxy wars between the British and French empires. France more or less bankrupted itself paying for those wars.

    When the revolution came to France, after the terror, they eventually used the US constitution as inspiration while writing theirs, and frankly, they made some improvements.

    France has always had our back. Sometimes, unlike other countries, having our back means calling us out and trying to get us to not do the stupid. France didn’t avoid Iraq because they were afraid, they told the US what they were doing was wrong… and they were right. It’s easy to criticize someone you don’t like. It’s hard to criticize your best friends, and France did it, and I really, really respect them for it.

    I would also say that the United States and Japan has had a unique and very special relationship since the end of World War 2. They have gone from fierce, respected, lethal enemy to being one of our our closest friends. The whole situation is a bit weird, but… it seems that Japan has thrived.

  18. Am I the only one who heard the raunchy saxophone kick in after reading the thread title?

  20. Lots, for various types of special:

    The UK is the parent we had a bad time with as a teen, but now are very close to.

    Canada is a sibling.

    Australia and New Zealand are cousins.

    Liberia is the illiegmitate kid we mostly don’t think about but send a check once in a while.

    Japan and Germany are former bullies we got into a huge fight with, and are now good people and close friends.

    France is that one we had a huge crush on, but isn’t that into us, and isn’t afraid to call us out on our bullshit.

    Israel is the troubled abuse survivor that we’ve taken under our wing even though it causes no end of pain.

    South Korea and the Philippines are like people whose life we saved and still live in a bad neighborhood. Ukraine might join that club.

    Poland is the stand-up new friend who always shows up when you need someone to help move furniture.

    China is the common-law spouse that we really don’t get along with, but a divorce would just be too expensive.

    Russia is the former high school jock who’s now an alcoholic who thinks they still matter.

  21. It’s only used to describe US-UK. I would say next up is Canada and Australia. From the interviews I’ve seen with people involved in this stuff it seems like Australia and UK are the two closer relationships whereas Canada and NZ are English speaking neighbors so they get brought into the fold. AUKUS I think is a good reference for this.

    Even in North America it seemed like Mexico-US were the main players in NAFTA 2.0 negotiations. From what I remember Canada came in afterwards and the Trump administration was ok with leaving them out. My memory of this could be off tho. I’d say trade wise Mexico is more important since they offer lower labor costs which allows for nearshoring of things the US wants.

  22. Japan and South Korea, the Americans took over Japan after WW2 and South Korea, (US still there in the DMZ).

  25. Mexico is like a little brother to the United States because of the long history with Mexico.

    Israel has a special relationship because America has the highest number of Jews living outside of Israel. (Also thoughts and prayers! Shalom!)

    Morocco because they are our oldest ally and they were also the first nation to recognize the United States as a country.

  27. Besides the obvious like Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, etc…

    Netherlands – as they were the first country to give America a loan – and established American Credit. They’re the forgotten other *first ally* with France.

    Israel. By some metrics, 1 in 10 Israelis have dual citizenship with the U.S. We also helped establish it as a country and benefit immensely from technology and intelligence sharing.

    Japan. After WW2, we have military bases there and they don’t have a real military, just a small defense force. We agreed to protect them and we benefit from trade.

    Kosovo and Kuwait also come to mind. Though those relationships are more one-way.

    Liberia to some degree, but that relationship also flows one way. The country was established by freed African -American Slaves sent to Africa.

  28. France helped us come into existence and maintain it, we saved their asses in both world wars.

    Israel’s basically the wests presence in the middle east, which while thats not necessarily good attitude for America do have, is definitely helped keep Israel a state (as it should be) for the last 75 years.

    Vietnam has a special but… more complicated relationship with us. I mean its a good thing were friends now.

  29. The Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Palau are sovereign countries that are freely associated with the United States. Under the Compact of Free Association, citizens of those countries can live and work in the U.S. indefinitely without needing a visa and U.S. citizens can also live and work in those countries without a visa. Those three countries also receive some funding and access to U.S. agencies like the FCC and USPS. They all use the U.S. Dollar as their currency. They even have their own U.S. zip codes despite not technically being a part of the U.S.

  30. I think we have an “opposites attract” relationship with Japan and we have a “brotherly” relationship with Canada.

    Like Japanese and American culture (mannerisms, religion, government, etc.) are so vastly different but somehow we’re bros. It’s kind of adorable.

  31. Canada is closer than the Brits. Canada stations part of their military in the US for NORAD cooperation. Culturally, we intermingle all the time, and the northern states that share a border routinely cross it for whatever reason. In Michigan, it’s also not uncommon to have a spouse that is from Canada.

  32. The phrase “Special Relationship” is used pretty exclusively of the UK alone. That said we have similarly close relationships with the other “Core Anglo-sphere” nations of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand which along with the UK we all pretty much share a common culture, a lot of common history and with which we have a host of particularly close formal diplomatic ties coordinating our militaries, intelligence services, and our trade and immigration policies.

  34. Israel, the UK.

    To a lesser degree the rest of the Anglosphere, Australia, New Zealand… not really South Africa.

    France is a close ally but not special.

  35. Canada is an obvious one I think.

    I also think the US and Ireland have an interesting relationship given the sheer number of folks in the US with Irish heritage (including our current President who is on the record as a proud Irishman). Imo we Americans are very fond of Ireland. There’s also the

    I can’t speak on how well Americans are viewed on the Emerald Isle, but they do have a Barack Obama gas station…which is certainly something.

  36. One that’s not being mentioned too much is the Philippines. Filipinos, at least of a certain generation, think of themselves as the closest ally of the US in Asia. And many WW2 and post-war generations have pretty positive sentiments because of the US Army and Navy fighting so hard against the Japanese. There’s also a long tradition of Filipinos serving in the US Navy, and will probably continue as the US Navy returns to defend the Philippines against China.

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