Kiribati is an island State located in the Pacific Ocean with territory spread among the Phoenix Islands, Line Islands and Gilbert Islands. The United States of America controls several islands in the Pacific, five of which are within 400 nautical miles of Kiribati and necessitate a maritime boundary. In 2013, Kiribati and the United States signed an agreement delimiting all their areas of overlapping maritime entitlements. The Agreement established three separate line segments. The first, measured at 333 nautical miles, delimits the boundary between Kiribati’s Phoenix Islands with the United States’ Baker and Howland Islands. All the maritime boundaries were delimited based on the principle of equidistance.

Kiribati and the United States share two additional maritime boundaries, located between the Line Islands–Jarvis Islands and the Line Islands–Palmyra Atoll & Kingman Reef.