A Difficult Balance: Privacy, National Security and the Free Flow of Data

CIGI Paper No. 330

August 7, 2025

Following decades of US government-led initiatives to open data and to encourage data flows, it came as a shock to many US trade partners when the Biden administration announced in October 2023 that it would withdraw its support for proposals to encourage cross-border free flow of data being discussed at the World Trade Organization. US policy makers questioned whether supporting these proposals was still in the country’s national interest. The United States followed through on its concerns by issuing executive orders to restrict the sale and transfer of various types of data to China and several other adversary nations. This paper examines how and why the United States became increasingly concerned about the national security risks of cross-border free flow of data and the impact of such restrictions on data.

About the Author

Susan Ariel Aaronson is a CIGI senior fellow, research professor of international affairs at George Washington University (GWU) and co-principal investigator with the NSF-NIST Institute for Trustworthy AI in Law & Society, where she leads research on data and AI governance.