How Japan—and Other U.S. Allies—Can Work Around America A Plan to Survive Trump’s Trade War. By Tatsuya Terazawa, for Foreign Affairs:

While it might be tough, reflects core issue that countries want/need to have some level of understanding of what others may get: Reaffirming Multilateralism: A Proposal for ASEAN Common Framework for Negotiating with the US : By Yose Rizal Damuri CSIS Indonesia:

The IAPP's Navigate Digital Risk Index 2025 charts the top risks for digital technology. Based on survey response from more than 600 global privacy, AI governance and digital responsibility leaders from industry, government, academia and civil society.

MIT Tech Review: "Inside India’s scramble for AI independence: Structural challenges and the nation’s many languages have made it tough to develop foundational AI models. But the government is keen not to be left behind." www-technologyreview-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.tech...

New RAND Report: Full Stack: China's Evolving Industrial Policy for AI. www.rand.org/pubs/perspec...

"Crash (exploit) and burn: Securing the offensive cyber supply chain to counter China in cyberspace." New Atlantic Council report by Winnona DeSombre Bernsen.

Interesting new report: "ASEAN DEFA: Promoting Interoperable Payments in Southeast Asia through the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement." Payments play a critical role in the digital economy, yet cross-border payments remains costly and complicated. www.nextradegroupllc.com/interoperabl...

New OECD post: Unlocking productivity with generative AI: evidence from experimental studies. www.oecd.org/en/blogs/202...

"Seeking Deeper: Assessing China’s AI Security Ecosystem Research Report." AI security gets much less attention than AI safety, at least recently. Interesting reporting into how it is addressed and debated in China. cetas.turing.ac.uk/publications...

FDA Targets Gene Editing Clinical Trials in China and other “Hostile Countries.” Crowell colleagues on growing scrutiny of data flows to China. FDA database shows less than a dozen trials with sites in China that explicitly mention gene editing/therapies/engineering.

My colleague Akanksha Sinha in ‪@thediplomat.com‬: How 90 Days of Accelerated Trade Alliances Reshaped Southeast Asia. SE Asia and a lot of the rest of the world continue to find their own way ahead on trade policy, separate, but obviously related, to US trade talks. thediplomat.com/2025/06/how-...

What’s at stake for ASEAN’s Digital Economy Framework Agreement? Kati Suominen for the Hinrich Foundation - www.hinrichfoundation.com/research/wp/...

@nigelcory.bsky.social and Amb. Robert Holleyman argue that the Korean Fair Trade Commission’s approach to competition policy enforcement creates nontariff barriers that the United States should seek to address in its ongoing #trade negotiations with #SouthKorea. nbr.org/publication/...

Trump Administration Cyber Executive Order Revises Prior Administrations’ Requirements www.crowell.com/en/insights/...

My Trade Secrets today. Joe Biden tried hard, despite competing priorities, to create an "economic security state" akin to the post-WW2 national security state. It's a bit ramshackle and uneven, but at least it's there. Donald Trump is, let's say, unlikely to improve it. on.ft.com/4gJ9smL

Today’s Trade Secrets: the day friendshoring died. It’s not even that the Biden administration sold out its allies to help the US steel industry. It’s that it’s not going to help the steel industry either. on.ft.com/4a4O34I

The East African Community, with World Bank support, works to develop a regional framework for cross-border data flows. www.eac.int/press-releas...

Interesting title/study from Bank of Italy officials: "Chat Bankman-Fried? An Exploration of LLM Alignment in Finance." Simulation-based testing can be informative for regulators seeking to ensure LLM safety, but it should be complemented by analysis of LLM mechanics papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

AI & productivity. Interesting study carries out the first analysis of how the quality and type of human capital within firms influences the probability of adoption, using novel and uniquely comprehensive official data sources from France. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

AI and India’s National Interest. By Hosuk Lee-Makiyama et al at the European Center for International Political Economy (ECIPE). ecipe.org/publications...

The Human Rights Costs of Data Localization Around the World. Four civil society experts weigh in on why data localization is becoming an increasingly common policy and what this means for people’s rights. www.techpolicy.press/the-human-ri...

Payment and financial data are among the most commonly targeted types of data for transfer restrictions - Uzbekistan’s data localization law hinders entry of Apple Pay and Google Pay. kun.uz/en/news/2024...

NIST provides an end-of-year update on its International Cybersecurity & Privacy Engagement. A pretty boring, but valuable, part of building global tech governance. Includes new translations into French/German/Polish/Spanish of various NIST cybersecurity framework docs. www.nist.gov/blogs/cybers...

Carnegie Endowment launches new Africa Technology Policy Tracker (AfTech). The first continent-wide aggregate of digital economy laws, policies, & regs on digital infra, platforms, skills, & innovation. Developed with the African Telecommunications Union. carnegieendowment.org/features/afr...

Interesting - Very China like move by India. Chinese fast fashion platform Shein's return to India will require strict data localization in India. Shein's Indian partner, Reliance Retail Ventures, will have full control of its India operations. in.fashionnetwork.com/news/Governm...

Useful stats/graphs - Large companies perform 89% of US AI R&D; 44-45% of firms with over 10k employees used AI. From: Artificial Intelligence in the Business Sector: R&D, Use, and Impact on Employees, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (2021 data). ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf2531...

"How Experts in China and the United Kingdom View AI Risks and Collaboration." From my former colleagues Daniel and Yanzi @datainnovation.org/@itif.org. datainnovation.org/2024/08/how-...

Essentially an end-of-administration summary: Biden-⁠Harris Administration Marks Progress Strengthening America’s Supply Chains - critical minerals, medical equipment, semis, supply chain analytics, IPEF, and more: www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-roo...

U.S. House Bipartisan Task Force on AI Delivers Report. Section on technical standards cites my work & makes the clear case to support the US industry-led approach. Also, some countries (namely China) have taken steps in clear contradiction of the core principles of international standard-setting.

Uk House of Lords International Agreements Committee report on "Data and Digital Trade." "We suggest that the UK works to support digital trade to the greatest extent possible." www.parliament.uk/business/lor...

@futureofprivacy.bsky.social's report is well worth a read: “AI Governance Behind the Scenes: Emerging Practices For AI Impact Assessments.” Based in part on a survey of over 60 private sector stakeholders. fpf.org/press-releas...

U.S. and China renew decades-old science and technology pact amid growing rivalry. New agrmt narrows its scope and adds safeguards (e.g. strengthened provisions on transparency and data reciprocity) to address concerns about national security risks. www.nbcnews.com/news/world/u...

Next steps in US economic statecraft - Trump names Jacob Helberg as undersecretary of State for economic growth, energy & the environ. Currently works for Palantir & is a member of the US-China Econ & Security Review Commission. Formerly worked for Google & Geoquant. www.uscc.gov/commission-m...

Global competition for semis - A roundup of country studies & initiatives in the Philippines bit.ly/4iB4hGJ (OECD, new), India bit.ly/4iADSsD, the Dominican Republic bit.ly/4fBOCEx, Mexico bit.ly/3VGH1gE, and Kenya bit.ly/4iCvtES. There are probably others, but a sense of what's happening.

A good snapshot update: US-China competition could lead to sub-par quantum tech standards: merics.org/en/comment/u... Antonia Hmaidi @merics.bsky.social mentions my prior piece on the Biden Admin's overreaction to China's role in standards setting for quantum technologies: itif.org/publications...

@unctad.bsky.social: Developing economies surpass $1 trillion mark in digitally deliverable services exports. unctad.org/news/develop...

FMR USTR Zoellick @wsj.com: "Trade Policy Means More Than Tariffs." "Under Mr. Biden, Washington shifted from America first in digital trade to America last...Trump needs an offensive trade agenda, not merely tariffs.. He needs a nontariff digital & data trade agenda." www.wsj.com/opinion/trad...

Interesting new Australia-India program (great acronym) - Mobility Arrangement for Talented Early-professionals Scheme (MATES). Up to 3k Indian graduates & early career professionals with knowledge/skills in targeted fields can work in Oz for up to 2 years. immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/gettin...

"Commerce Dept. Is on the Front Lines of China Policy" @nytimes.com. bit.ly/41pEwD3 DoC's natsec agenda is likely an area of continuity & evolution. What happens with trade promotion will only emerge in time, as is answer to Q about interagency dynamic with USTR NSC/NEC, see bsky.app/profile/nige...

Adoption of digital technologies gets less attention than creating it. With each wave of new tech, countries want their own search/cloud/AI etc. firm. Yet adoption drives productivity. OECD bit.ly/40ZekPv & consultancy report shows gap with uptake of existing, never mind new, tech: bit.ly/4i7QLtL

Latest on trade policy under Trump 2.0: Trump Cabinet rollout sparks confusion over USTR’s role (i.e. Commerce subsumes USTR) [$ Insidetrade] bit.ly/3ZkpUn8 & ‘What’s left for Bob?’ Lutnick pick raises questions about Lighthizer’s future influence [$ PoliticoPro] bit.ly/3YWYLFm

Geoeconomics starter pack, a very good list. You can safely click “follow all” go.bsky.app/5Bb8Ma9

Who is really going to be in charge of Trump’s trade agenda? Despite yesterday’s announcement it probably won’t be Howard Lutnick… www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

China's President Xi announces a "Global Cross-Border Data Flow Cooperation" initiative in APEC remarks. China is not a member or fan of APEC CBPR & Chinese opposition was a reason it was taken out of APEC to become Global CBPR. Unclear what this is. [$] content.mlex.com#/content/161...

A personal & professional intro🧵 for Bluesky - I'm an Australian digital/tech/trade policy nerd working for Crowell Global Advisors (www.cmintl.com) in DC, but work globally, especially in Asia Pacific. E.g. I'm in Taipei to speak at a Global Cross Border Privacy Rules conference & Singapore after.

This/last week's edition of MFN includes a long section on why the TCA EV battery rules of origin story is actually a chemicals story. Also digital trade (h/t @nigelcory.bsky.social ), a hard quiz (@lorcanrk.bsky.social ), and other stuff. mostfavourednation.substack.com/p/most-favou...

@nigelcory.bsky.social and Samm Sacks evaluate the U.S. Trade Representative's decision to end U.S. support for WTO proposals that protect cross-border data flows, arguing that the decision backs China's localized digital governance vision.

Next up in US-China controls: US considers curbing China's access to cloud services. bit.ly/3tL596E. Seems difficult. Separate or in addition to admin's push to somehow enact a KYC requirement to identify/deter malicious users of cloud. See: bit.ly/45Jxtn9.

Indications for digital trade at IPEF are not looking good: best guess is weak or no outcome, hopefully the latter. Weak/uncertain US position spillovers to WTO ecommerce talks - "Sen Carper, Young tell USTR Tai US must quickly forge binding digital trade commitments" [$] insidetrade bit.ly/45Hkgeu

My latest: Unpacking the Biden Admin’s Strategy for Technical Standards for Critical & Emerging Tech: The Good, the Bad, & Ideas for Improvement. bit.ly/3RY7xB1. Speaking today at ANSI's World Standards Week on the politicization of technical standards bit.ly/3Qaypwg. @itif.org