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U.S.-France Relations Fact Sheet released by the Bureau of European and Canadian Affairs, U.S. Department of State, April 24, 1998.

France is the oldest ally of the United States. Benjamin Franklin was the first U.S. emissary to France, and French military assistance helped make possible the American victory in the American Revolution. The Founding Fathers were profoundly influenced by the ideas of 18th-century French political philosophers. Since then, the U.S. and France have been linked by diplomatic and military alliances, and a rich complex of cultural, intellectual, and economic ties.

World War II and its aftermath was another landmark event in French-American relations. U.S. military forces played a key role in liberating France from the Nazi occupation. France received the third-greatest amount of aid under the Marshall Plan (after the U.K. and Germany). The Marshall Plan not only helped reconstruct the French economy but served as a model for European economic integration and the creation of the European Economic Community and the European Union.

Today, France is a major economic partner of the United States. The United States is the largest direct foreign investor in France. American companies have put $33 billion into the French economy, and are responsible for creating 400,000 jobs in France. On the other hand, the United States is the leading recipient of French investments (and France is the sixth-largest investor in the U.S. economy). This investment has created an estimated 370,000 jobs in the United States.

Tourism is another important link between the two countries. The U.S. tops the polls of places French people want to visit. Each year about 2 million Americans go to France, while 1 million French citizens visit the United States.

In the political arena, France and the United States work closely on global and regional issues, both bilaterally and through multilateral organizations.

• France and the United States are working together to define a new European security structure. The two countries were early proponents of NATO enlargement, of founding the changes in transatlantic security upon a clear understanding with a democratic Russia, and of adapting NATO internally to address post-Cold War realities.

• The two countries are cooperating closely on helping to maintain peace in Bosnia. France is a major contributor to SFOR and is a leading voice in maintaining stability in the region.

• France has worked diligently with the U.S. in support of the Middle East peace process and continues to do so.

• The U.S. and France are working in close consultation to support the UN's MINURCA peacekeeping operation as well as political and economic reform efforts in the Central African Republic and to seek ways to prevent future conflicts in Africa.

• The two governments have combined efforts to combat organized crime and international terrorism.

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