On 7 January, the United States withdrew from a slate of international organisations and initiatives. It was not a surprise, following the overall spirit of Trump’s administration strategy towards the UN and international cooperation. Despite the wider retrenchment, the technology and digital governance ecosystem was largely spared. Most major tech-relevant bodies remained on the ‘white list,’ including the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). In the digital space, only two initiatives were explicitly dropped: the Freedom Online Coalition (FOC) and the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE). The bigger uncertainty lies elsewhere: the US decision to step back from UNCTAD and UN DESA could still create knock-on effects for digital initiatives linked to them, including Commission for Science and Technology for Development (CSTD), the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and WSIS follow-up processes. among others.
USA’s exit from international organizations leaves digital governance largely unscathed – Diplo
