Has US abdicated global digital leadership?

The World Trade Organization proposals focused on ensuring the free flow of information online and limiting individual countries’ ability to force data to be stored within their borders. They underpin three decades of US policy to support a free, global interoperable Internet.

The decision, leaked late last year, met widespread criticism from industry as well as complaints from Washington lawmakers, both Democrat and Republican.  Dissatisfaction even has emerged from within the Biden Administration with reports of an “ongoing meltdown” among the White House National Security Council staff. It conflicts with other Biden Administration efforts, including the Declaration for the Future of the Internet which brought together 60-plus countries to “resist efforts to splinter the global Internet” and “realize the benefits of data free flows with trust“, CEPA reports.

US Trade Representative Katherine Tai defends the retreat as a way to allow it to strengthen regulation of big tech companies.  Her office told Reuters that it allows Congress “the right to regulate in the public interest and the need to address anticompetitive behavior in the digital economy.”

But Senator Ron Wyden, the Oregon Democrat who leads the Senate Finance Committee, called the move “a win for China, plain and simple,” saying it would strengthen the Chinese model of internet censorship and government surveillance.” He lamented how Washington opposed “policies championed by allies like Australia, Japan, the UK and Korea.”

The issue dates back to the late 1990s. Confronted with the need to make policy choices as traditional telecommunications networks began to evolve into today’s modern Internet, the US pursued an agenda of global unfettered interconnection.  The policy promoted American business and innovation. It supported free expression, human rights, and the proliferation of democratic values.

At international organizations such as the WTO, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and International Telecommunication Union, the US focused on market liberalization, privatization, and the creation of independent telecommunications regulators.  US free trade agreements and countless leaders’ G7 and G20 statements supported digital trade and the free flow of information. They opposed data localization.