Despite exiting a host of global and UN entities, the Trump administration is sharpening its focus elsewhere, including in Geneva\u2019s quiet but powerful rules and standards machinery.<\/p>\n
Washington\u2019s splashy exit earlier this month from a whopping 66 UN organisations and other international entities grabbed headlines<\/a>. Less noticed has been how it intends to redirect its focus. Despite repeatedly bashing the UN as inefficient and \u201cwasteful\u201d, the Trump administration has signalled its determination to remain actively involved \u2013 and in some cases even expand its influence \u2013 in selected pockets of the multilateral system, including in Geneva\u2019s obscure but powerful standard-setting agencies.<\/p>\n Last week, the US diplomatic mission in Geneva announced it was backing US industry executive Jennifer Warren for a seat at the International Telecommunication Union\u2019s Radio Regulations Board. The body of experts \u2013 independent in theory, but closely linked to their respective governments in practice \u2013\u00a0 plays a central role in how the Radio Regulations treaty is applied and interpreted, shaping the global rulebook that governs who can use which radio frequencies and for what purposes, from mobile networks to commercial satellites to sensitive military communications systems.<\/p>\n The announcement was described as a reflection of Washington\u2019s \u201clongstanding commitment to the ITU\u201d. Warren\u2019s CV offers a clue to what drives that commitment. For over 30 years, she has led global regulatory affairs and public policy at Lockheed Martin, the world\u2019s biggest defence contractor \u2013 better known for its F-35 fighter jets and Patriot missile systems. Her role includes handling relations not only with the government but also with intergovernmental bodies like the ITU.<\/p>\n With demand for high-speed mobile networks, satellite operators and security services colliding over ever more crowded spectrum bands, the political stakes at this seemingly technical body are high.<\/p>\n Read more: Inside the UN tech agency\u2019s role in Musk\u2019s space conquest<\/a><\/p>\n Last summer, Washington also unsuccessfully sought<\/a> to thwart China\u2019s bid to host the World Radio Conference in 2027, which will determine the next set of spectrum allocations. At the same meeting, the US also backed the re-election<\/a> of Biden-era nominee Doreen Bogdan Martin as head of the UN tech agency, underscoring the strategic value it places on the agency that sets global telecoms standards and manages spectrum coordination.<\/p>\n \u201cAt a time when global networks and digital technologies are increasingly impacting the global economy, ITU needs the right leadership,\u201d said<\/a> US secretary of state Marco Rubio when endorsing her candidacy.<\/p>\n Both elections are set to be held at the ITU\u2019s annual conference taking place in Doha, Qatar, this November.<\/p>\n Victors write the standards<\/p>\n Washington has also made a late push into other quiet corners of Geneva\u2019s regulations factory. Last year, it secured one of the vice-presidencies of the UN Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN\/CEFACT), a little-known body that develops standards for electronic trade documents, such as the UN\/Locode system that allows a container leaving Shanghai to be processed seamlessly in Rotterdam. While the vice-presidency doesn\u2019t have special decision-making powers, the role can shape agendas, steer debates, and at times, keep others in check.<\/p>\n The UN\/CEFACT is just one of several key technical bodies hosted at the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) \u2013 the only regional body not included in Washington\u2019s exit list. Its standards and recommendations underpin billions of dollars in global trade, from chemical substances to automotive parts.<\/p>\n UNECE\u2019s executive secretary Tatiana Molcean told Geneva Solutions by email she welcomed \u201cthe continued engagement of the US and all countries\u201d in the commission\u2019s work, pointing to standards and regulations \u201ckey to entire industries, such as the automotive, chemical, energy, trade of agricultural products or logistics sectors, which generate billions of dollars and employ millions of people worldwide.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGlobally harmonised norms developed at UNECE in these sectors bring countries huge economic benefits through economies of scale and increased safety and predictability of operations,\u201d she added. \u201cThese benefits can only be maintained if the largest possible number of countries continue participating in their development and maintenance, and in the creation of new ones.\u201d<\/p>\n Among those new ones are regulations for automated vehicles set to be adopted this summer, a development that could unlock a global market for automation enthusiasts such as tech billionaire Elon Musk, as countries look to UN rules as a reference point.<\/p>\n Political appointments<\/p>\n The US has also kept a foot inside some organisations it has often criticised. Last year, Washington nominated Nels Nordquist, a former senior Trump economic adviser, for the post of deputy director general at the International Labour Organization \u2013 a move that triggered internal resistance from staff concerned about political influence from an administration openly hostile to the ILO\u2019s mandate.<\/p>\n Around the same time, his wife, Jennifer \u201cDJ\u201d Nordquist, a former US executive director at the World Bank and a Trump-era economic adviser, also took up the role of deputy director general of the World Trade Organization.<\/p>\n Both positions are traditionally held by US nationals, reflecting Washington\u2019s status as their biggest contributor. But the near-simultaneous nominations of Trump-linked figures for senior roles in Geneva could signal the Trump administration\u2019s intentions to expand its political footprint in multilateral organisations.<\/p>\n Far from avoiding Geneva, the Trump administration has also dispatched a string of senior officials there for high-level diplomacy, including trade talks<\/a> with China amid their tariff standoff last May and peace talks on Ukraine<\/a> last November. In December, Washington also picked the city as the venue to ink a new humanitarian funding agreement with the UN\u2019s aid chief, Tom Fletcher.<\/p>\n While the administration has yet to appoint a US ambassador to the UN in Geneva \u2013 with Tressa Rae Finerty serving in the meantime as the charg\u00e9 d\u2019affaires \u2013 it finally appointed Joseph Barloon in October to oversee trade matters at the WTO, yet another sign of where US priorities lie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite exiting a host of global and UN entities, the Trump administration is sharpening its focus elsewhere, including…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18507,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7],"tags":[18,65,12631,4957,74],"class_list":["post-18506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-geneva","tag-donald-trump","tag-geneva","tag-itu","tag-unece","tag-united-states"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}