Fitsum Arega, who is also accredited to Canada and Mexico, is serving as the Ethiopian Ambassador to the United States since 10 April 2019, succeeding Kassa Teklebirhan in that post.

He serves as the primary channel of communication between the two nations, and plays an important role in treaty negotiations.

U.S.-Ethiopian relations were established in 1903, after nine days of meetings in Ethiopia between Emperor Menelik II and Robert Peet Skinner, an emissary of President Theodore Roosevelt.

In September 1949 the Ethiopian mission was raised to the status of Embassy, and the Envoy, Ras Imru Haile Selassie, became the first Ambassador.

Relations between Ethiopia and the United States continued after the overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie by a military junta in a coup d'état in 1974, but were broken in June 1978.