While the United States has relatively complicated maritime boundaries, it shares international land borders with only two nations:

Furthermore, the United States exercises jurisdiction and control over the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base which shares a land border with Cuba, while recognizing that Cuba retains ultimate sovereignty.

Maritime boundaries

Out in the ocean, the US borders are more complex.

The Russia–United States maritime boundary was defined by an agreement made by the United States and the USSR in 1990 covering the Bering Sea, Bering Strait, and Arctic Ocean. The boundary line generally follows the 1867 Alaska Cession line, but the agreement has not entered into force. The USA ratified the USSR–USA Maritime Boundary Agreement, but the USSR failed to ratify it before dissolving, and it has not been ratified by Russia.

The United States has entered maritime boundary agreements with Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela, and with the United Kingdom in the Caribbean. The maritime boundary with Canada in the Atlantic was determined by the International Court of Justice in the Gulf of Maine Case (1984). M.B. Feldman, Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, Foreign Oral History Collection https://adst.org/OH%20TOCs/Feldman.Mark.pdf The United States also shares a maritime boundary with the Bahamas and three more with Canada that remain to be determined.

Custom territories

Insular areas in the Pacific and the U.S. Virgin Islands are in a separate customs territory from the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. For more information on customs territories, see Foreign trade of the United States.

Border disputes

The US also has disputed land borders with seven nations:

Additionally, the US has maritime border disputes with Canada:

Agencies

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is responsible for policing the borders and inspecting people and goods being imported.

The United States Coast Guard actively patrols the nation's extensive maritime borders.

The United States Armed Forces and state and local police may also become involved in border enforcement in certain circumstances.

Total list

Country or territory
 No. of land border neighbors[2] No. of maritime boundary neighbors[2] Total no. of unique neighbors[2] Neighboring countries and territories
(Territories without full sovereignty[3] in italics)
(L) = share only land borders
(M) = share only maritime boundaries blank = share land borders and maritime boundaries
 United States[4] 2 5 5  Bahamas (M)
 Canada
 Cuba (M)
 Mexico
 Russia (M)
 United States (including insular areas)

includes: → American Samoa

→ Baker Island

→ Guam

→ Howland Island

→ Jarvis Island

→ Johnston Atoll

→ Kingman Reef

→ Midway Atoll

→ Northern Mariana Islands

→ Palmyra Atoll

→ Puerto Rico

→ United States Virgin Islands

→ Wake Island

 2 16 16  Bahamas (M)

 Canada

 Cuba (M)

 Dominican Republic (M)

 Japan (M)

 Kiribati (M)

 Marshall Islands (M)

 Mexico

 Federated States of Micronesia (M)

 Netherlands (M)

 Russia (M)

 Samoa (M)

 Tonga (M)

 Venezuela (M)

 Anguilla (United Kingdom) (M)

 British Virgin Islands (United Kingdom) (M)

 Cook Islands (New Zealand) (M)

 Niue (New Zealand) (M)

 Tokelau (New Zealand) (M)

 United States (including insular areas and disputed territories)

includes the aforementioned areas and:

→Bajo Nuevo Bank (disputed with Colombia, Jamaica, & Nicaragua)

→Guántanamo Bay (disputed with Cuba)

→Machias Seal Island and North Rock (disputed with Canada)

→ Navassa Island (disputed with Haiti)

→Serranilla Bank (disputed with Colombia, Honduras, & Jamaica)

 3 21 (24) 21 (24)  Bahamas (M)

 Canada

 Colombia (M)

 Cuba

 Dominican Republic (M)

 Haiti (M)

 Honduras (M)

 Jamaica (M)

 Japan (M)

 Kiribati (M)

 Marshall Islands (M)

 Mexico

 Federated States of Micronesia (M)

 Netherlands (M)

 Nicaragua (M)

 Russia (M)

 Samoa (M)

 Tonga (M)

 Venezuela (M)

 Anguilla (United Kingdom) (M)

 British Virgin Islands (United Kingdom) (M)

 Cook Islands (New Zealand) (M)

 Niue (New Zealand) (M)

 Tokelau (New Zealand) (M)

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Bajo Nueva Bank – De Facto". defactoborders.org. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 A number in parentheses indicates the number of unique sovereign states that the country or territory shares as neighbors.
  3. ↑ The concept of state sovereignty is somewhat imprecise and there are disagreements about whether certain territories are sovereign. There are currently 195 states that are generally regarded as "fully" sovereign: this includes the 193 member states of the United Nations plus the observer states of Vatican City and the State of Palestine. Some of these states have under their jurisdiction territories, dependencies, or collectivities that are clearly non-sovereign geographical areas. These territories are generally regarded as being subsumed within the overarching sovereignty of the governing state. For example, the United Kingdom holds sovereignty over the territory of Gibraltar, even though Gibraltar is not considered to be part of the United Kingdom. There are a few territories in the world that are neither clearly sovereign nor clearly subsumed under another state's sovereignty. Often, these territories have declared themselves to be sovereign, but they are either not widely recognized as such or lack some of the necessary conditions for sovereign statehood. In these cases, explanatory footnotes indicate how the territory is treated for the purposes of this list.
  4. ↑ Excluding U.S. insular areas.
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