In 1787, with a bribe of $10,000 and the combined diplomatic talents of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, the U.S. persuaded the Barbary pirates to lay off U.S. merchant shipping and signed the Sultan of Morocco to a treaty of friendship. When the treaty ran out in 1836, President Andy Jackson got it renewed indefinitely. Since then, Americans visiting or living in Morocco have had extraterritorial rights, freedom from import controls and certain taxes (although all other countries had given up these rights).
In 1948 Morocco, prompted by France, set up some import controls. This was a blow...
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