U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Compact Negotiations

The United States Special Presidential Envoy for Compact Negotiations is a dedicated diplomatic position created by the Biden White House in 2022 to negotiate amendments to the Compact of Free Association (COFA), the agreement governing the relationship between the United States and the Freely Associated States (FAS) of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau.

They achieved full sovereignty in 1986, when the U.S. Congress ratified the COFA, providing the FAS with economic benefits and visa-free entry to any U.S. jurisdiction in exchange for full international defense authority and responsibilities.

In February 2022 the Republic of the Marshall Islands' Ambassador to the United States, Gerald Zackios, attributed the impasse to Washington's failure to appoint a negotiator empowered by the president to discuss key issues beyond economic assistance, including remuneration for the legacy of nuclear testing on the islands, the continuing presence of U.S. military bases and the ballistic missile test site at Kwajalein Atoll and climate-change mitigation.

[3] Citing "the critical nature of these complex negotiations," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the creation of the position of Special Presidential Envoy for Compact Negotiations on March 22, 2022,[4] President Biden named Ambassador Yun to be the inaugural envoy.

After 18 months of negotiations with the Compact states, led by Ambassador Yun, and with the bipartisan support of the US Congress, on March 8, 2024, the renewed Compacts of Free Association (COFA) were officially signed into law as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act.