For America250, Morocco became the first foreign power to recognize the United States. Sultan Mohammed III opened Moroccan ports to American ships in 1777, while the Revolutionary War was still underway.
The recognition was strategically important because the new American republic needed access to international trade and hoped to establish diplomatic relationships beyond Europe. Morocco’s decision helped American merchants operate in Moroccan ports and demonstrated that the United States could be treated as an independent country.
The relationship later became formalized through the Moroccan-American Treaty of Friendship, signed in 1786. The treaty is widely described as the United States’ longest unbroken treaty relationship. The American diplomatic mission in Tangier, acquired in 1821, is now the Tangier American Legation Museum.
France is often named in this context because it was the first major European power to recognize the United States and formally ally with it in 1778. Morocco’s earlier recognition makes it the precise answer to the broader question about the first foreign power.