Despite close historic and political links to the U.K. and Jamaica, geography and the rise of tourism and international finance in the Cayman Islands' economy has made the United States its most important foreign economic partner.

Following a decline in tourists from the United States after the September 11, 2001 attacks, over 200,000 U.S. citizens travelled by air to the Cayman Islands in 2004; 4,761 Americans were resident there as of 2005.

In June 2000, the Cayman Islands was listed by multilateral organisations as a tax haven and a non-cooperative territory in fighting money laundering.

The country's swift response in enacting laws limiting banking secrecy, introducing requirements for customer identification and record keeping, and for banks to cooperate with foreign investigators led to its removal from the list of non-cooperative territories in June 2001.

There also is a U.S. Consular Agency in George Town on Grand Cayman to assist in providing services for American citizens.