US foreign digital diplomacy will see limited success

Significance The strategy lays out an ambitious agenda for promoting digital rights and an open internet, and underlines US fears that other countries, especially China, are gaining ground in influencing other states’ approaches to internet policy. Impacts Countering China’s influence in the global digital economy will be a priority for the White House, regardless of the election's outcome. Biden, if re-elected, will seek a leading US role in international AI governance as it tries to curb adversarial state-backed uses of AI. A Trump administration would be unlikely to prioritise influence-building at international forums such as the UN.