Tech Diplomacy and the Digital International Order: The Case of the EU–US Trade and Technology Council

This article examines the evolving role of the U.S.–EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) in advancing the EU’s digital diplomacy, with a particular focus on its contribution to global digital ordering. Positioned at the intersection of normative engagement and regulatory coordination, the TTC operates as a hybrid mechanism that integrates networked ordering—through norm diffusion, stakeholder engagement, and shared value promotion—with structural ordering, involving formal regulatory frameworks, technical standards, and institutional deliverables. Drawing on a qualitative content analysis of key TTC documents (2021–2024), the article traces how agential strategies such as winning over, enticing, and forcing are embedded in the TTC’s policy outputs and diplomatic practices. The findings underscore the complementary roles of digital and tech diplomacy, with the TTC exemplifying how normative engagement and regulatory coordination can be integrated within a single framework. More broadly, the analysis sheds light on how the EU navigates and shapes the global digital landscape by linking outward-facing diplomatic practices with deeper institutional and governance structures.