The US government has ordered its diplomats to actively oppose other countries’ attempts to introduce so-called data sovereignty laws that restrict how and where foreign technology corporations can store and handle residents’ data, in line with Reuters.
In an internal memo from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the US describes such rules as a threat to free data flows, AI development, and cloud services. The Trump Administration believes that data localization could increase costs, create cybersecurity risks, and provides governments greater control over information.
At the identical time, support for data sovereignty is growing, especially in Europe, where there are concerns about privacy, surveillance, and US dominance in AI and tech. The EU’s GDPR is mentioned within the document for instance of rules that the US considers unnecessarily restrictive.