GLOBAL
USTR: National Trade Estimates Report, 2025
The US Trade Representatives annual National Trade Estimates Report was released on March 31, 2025. This year’s report, which identifies non-tariff barriers in several countries, saw a reversion to the norm, with the USTR identifying several public interest regulations as “trade barriers”. The 2025 report mentions a far higher number of digital ecosystem related regulations compared to last year and targets amongst others, data protection laws, digital competition laws, and platform regulation.
Public Citizen’s statement on the release of the 2025 NTE report can be seen here.
This year’s report was also unusual in that it was referenced by President Trump as one of the reasons for implementation of supposed “reciprocal tariffs” (which were subsequently suspended). The reciprocal tariffs announced on April 2, 2025, (termed “liberation day” by President Trump) were defended by the government in a fact sheet released by the White House.
BotPopuli: Navigating Digital Sovereignty in the Era of Great Power Rivalry – Sreekanth Mukku
Current digital economy is characterized by Big Tech capture and technological dependency on a handful of mostly US-based companies. As the global race to dominate the artificial intelligence landscape intensifies, governments and corporations have geared to drive substantial investments in underlying digital infrastructure that is central to gaining AI supremacy.
AI’s promise is inextricably tied to a system where computational power and infrastructure are controlled by a few Big Tech gatekeepers. This concentration risks stifling real innovation, exacerbating environmental harm, and deepening societal dependence on entities whose priorities are driven by profit, not public interest.
In an era defined by geopolitical rivalry and the urgent quest for digital sovereignty, the Global South faces mounting pressure to build resilient DPI amid a fractured global landscape.
Global South nations are increasingly pressured to align with competing tech blocs, fragmenting DPI development.Digital public infrastructure (DPI) initiatives in the Global South face mounting challenges in achieving AI sovereignty, as they grapple with resource constraints, technological dependency, and inequitable global power dynamics. Many countries lack the funding, skilled workforce, and computational infrastructure to develop homegrown AI systems, forcing reliance on foreign technologies that often come with strings attached.
BotPopuli: Moving Towards Local and People-Centered Artificial Intelligence – Kai-Hsin Hung
This essay examines how Big Tech geopolitics raises systematic and long-term risks for AI. It concludes by proposing alternative visions and approaches rooted in community-based solutions inspired by global digital justice movements. These visions and approaches offer more locally driven, people-centered AI that can help move us beyond Big Tech geopolitics.
TheGuardian: Revealed: Big tech’s new datacentres will take water from the world’s driest areas – Luke Barratt et al.
Amazon, Microsoft and Google are operating datacentres that use vast amounts of water in some of the world’s driest areas and are building many more, the non-profit investigatory organisation SourceMaterial and the Guardian have found.
With Donald Trump pledging to support them, the three technology giants are planning hundreds of datacentres in the US and across the globe, with a potentially huge impact on populations already living with water scarcity.
TheGuardian: Energy demands from AI datacentres to quadruple by 2030, says report – Fiona Harvey
The global rush to AI technology will require almost as much energy by the end of this decade as Japan uses today, but only about half of the demand is likely to be met from renewable sources.
Processing data, mainly for AI, will consume more electricity in the US alone by 2030 than manufacturing steel, cement, chemicals and all other energy-intensive goods combined, according to a report from the International Energy Agency (IEA).
ASIA
AP: Meta is fined by Turkey after refusing to restrict content on Facebook and Instagram
Meta said it has been hit with a hefty fine for resisting Turkish government demands to limit content on Facebook and Instagram.
The social media company did not disclose the size of the fine, except to say it was “substantial” and did not provide any more details about the content in question. The Associated Press has approached the Turkish government for comment.
Medianama: DoT Postpones ComSec Testing Rules After US Criticism – Dhruv Raghav
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has postponed the implementation of mandatory testing for two networking equipment categories until September 1, 2025, according to a government notification. The notification, dated April 7, 2025, comes days after the US government criticised India’s telecom testing and certification requirements under the Communication Security Certification (ComSec) Scheme for being “burdensome.”
EUROPE
GlobalJusticeNow: A trade deal with Trump: Why we need to reject the Big Tech wishlist
The UK is trying (again) to get a trade deal with the US. The Big Tech industry has developed a list of demands which it wants to see realised in trade deals. President Biden’s administration, recognising the problems associated with the power of Big Tech, dropped these demands in trade talks. But president Trump’s administration has embraced the Big Tech giants and their agenda in full, with Elon Musk enjoying particular power to push his own interests in the government.
The Big Tech wishlist represents extreme liberalisation of the digital space, including artificial intelligence (AI) and other new technologies. If these rules are embedded in a binding US-UK trade deal, they will tie the UK government’s hands, reducing our current and future abilities to: 1. Provide decent public services and keep our NHS data safe 2. Limit the dominance of Big Tech companies, and the inequality that results from their monopoly power 3. Tax Big Tech companies 4. Protect workers and secure rights for those in the gig economy 5. Regulate artificial intelligence (AI) and protect children and vulnerable adults online 6. Apply social, environmental and industrial policies
Both Starmer and Trump have pitched trade talks as a means of avoiding US tariffs, giving Trump something to hold over the UK throughout the talks, ensuring the UK gives the US more than it otherwise might.
The UK government seems unaware of these risks, and is pushing ahead with the digital trade agenda under the impression that it will promote economic growth, though exactly how it is expected to do so is unclear.
Reuters: EU could tax big tech if Trump trade talks fail, Von der Leyen tells FT
April 10 (Reuters) – The EU is prepared to deploy its most powerful trade measures and may impose levies on U.S. digital companies if negotiations with U.S. President Donald Trump fail, EU President Ursula von der Leyen told the Financial Times on Thursday.
The EU would seek a completely balanced agreement with Washington during Trump’s 90-day pause in applying additional tariffs, the report added.
EuroNews: Big Tech probes non-negotiable in US trade talks, Brussels warns – Jorge Liboreiro
Investigations into Big Tech and value-added tax will not be up for negotiation during trade talks with the United States, the European Commission has said.
The European Union will not make any concessions on its digital and technology rules as part of any trade negotiations with the United States, Brussels has warned, drawing a red line after a senior advisor of President Donald Trump openly accused the bloc of waging "lawfare" against the country’s Big Tech companies.
TheGuardian: EU will not rip up tech rules for trade deal with Trump, senior official says – Jennifer Rankin
The EU will not rip up its tech rules in an attempt to reach a trade deal with Donald Trump, the bloc’s most senior official on digital policy has said.
Henna Virkkunen, the European Commission vice-president responsible for tech sovereignty, indicated the EU was not going to compromise on its digital rulebook to reach an agreement on trade with the US – a key demand of Trump administration officials.
“We are very committed to our rules when it comes to the digital world,” Virkkunen said in an interview with European newspapers, including the Guardian. “We want to make sure that our digital environment in the European Union … that it is fair and it’s safe and it’s also democratic.”
Politico: Brussels could hit Big Tech in trade spat. But how? – Pieter Haeck, Matheiru Pollet, Eliza Gritski
The American tech sector has a big, fat target on its back as Europe looks to respond to Washington on tariffs. If only Brussels agreed on how to hit it.
As United States President Donald Trump rolled out a roster of tariffs late Wednesday, European top officials and lawmakers noted that Big Tech firms and digital services could be Washington’s Achilles heel.
Its flagship tech laws like the Digital Markets and Digital Services acts (DMA and DSA) aren’t designed to serve as retaliation tools. Attempts to slap higher taxes on tech giants previously failed. Governments could decrease their spending on Big Tech firms by revising public procurement policies, but in many cases Europe doesn’t have its own alternatives to turn to instead. And some capitals, like Dublin, are already warning that hitting U.S. tech would badly damage the bloc’s own economy.
Directly targeting Big Tech is all but certain to trigger the ire of tech CEOs like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, who have cultivated close ties with Trump.
Politico: France suggests targeting Big Tech’s data use in response to US tariffs – Pieter Haeck
French Economy and Finance Minister Eric Lombard has suggested striking back against U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs broadside by more strictly regulating U.S. Big Tech’s use of data.
"We may strengthen certain administrative requirements or regulate the use of data," Lombard said in an interview with Le Journal Du Dimanche. He added that another option could be to "tax certain activities," without being more specific.
A French government spokesperson already said last week that the EU’s retaliation against U.S. tariffs could include “digital services that are currently not taxed."
That suggestion was fiercely rejected by Ireland, which hosts the European headquarters of several U.S. Big Tech firms.
TACD: TACD opposes the use of coercive tariffs by the U.S. to attack EU laws protecting people
In reaction to President Trump’s announcement of 2 April 2025, TACD published a Statement urging the EU to stand firm in enforcing its laws while ensuring countermeasures do not harm consumers. Instead of escalating trade tensions, the U.S. and EU should work together to tackle common challenges—such as the rise of unsafe products online—by aligning customs controls and taxation. Cooperation, not coercion, is the path forward.
BEUC: EU-Singapore Digital Trade Agreement: we must do better to protect consumers, workers, and people at large
As discussions on the EU-Singapore Digital Trade Agreement (DTA) continue, BEUC, ETUC, and EDRi shed a light on the potential risks the agreement poses to consumer rights, workers’ protections, and broader fundamental rights.
The current text of the DTA introduces loopholes, particularly regarding access to source code and data flows, that could undermine privacy, algorithmic transparency, and regulatory oversight. Furthermore, this could hinder the enforcement of digital laws such as the AI Act. This is not merely a theoretical concern: the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) has echoed similar warnings in its recent opinion.
Politico: Europe’s GDPR privacy law is headed for red tape bonfire within ‘weeks’ – Ellen O’Regan
Europe’s most famous technology law, the GDPR, is next on the hit list as the European Union pushes ahead with its regulatory killing spree to slash laws it reckons are weighing down its businesses.
The European Commission plans to present a proposal to cut back the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR for short, in the next couple of weeks. Slashing regulation is a key focus for Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, as part of an attempt to make businesses in Europe more competitive with rivals in the United States, China and elsewhere.
TheGuardian: UK creating ‘murder prediction’ tool to identify people most likely to kill – Vikram Dodd
The UK government is developing a “murder prediction” programme which it hopes can use personal data of those known to the authorities to identify the people most likely to become killers.
Researchers are alleged to be using algorithms to analyse the information of thousands of people, including victims of crime, as they try to identify those at greatest risk of committing serious violent offences.
The existence of the project was discovered by the pressure group Statewatch, and some of its workings uncovered through documents obtained by Freedom of Information requests.
Statewatch says data from people not convicted of any criminal offence will be used as part of the project, including personal information about self-harm and details relating to domestic abuse. Officials strongly deny this, insisting only data about people with at least one criminal conviction has been used.
Politico: Trump’s antitrust agency chief blasts EU digital rules as ‘taxes on American firms’ – Francesca Micheletti
One of Donald Trump’s chief antitrust enforcers unleashed a blistering attack on the European Union’s flagship law that regulates big tech firms, in the latest war of words ahead of the announcement of sweeping U.S. trade tariffs.
Andrew Ferguson, the chair of the United States Federal Trade Commission, said EU fines expected in the coming days were merely a tax on American companies and their behavior should have nothing to do with Brussels. “I am very suspicious of laws that appear to have been written to get at American companies abroad,” he said Wednesday. “I definitely don’t want the Europeans basically levying taxes on American firms no matter what the conduct is."
But in comments that are unlikely to ease transatlantic tensions over digital regulation, the EU’s competition chief Teresa Ribera signaled later on Wednesday that she will come down hard on Big Tech companies that breach the bloc’s digital antitrust rules.
BankofEngland: Financial Stability in Focus: Artificial intelligence in the financial system
In the context of the new and distinct features of advanced AI, and the rapid pace of its development, there is a high degree of uncertainty over how the technology and its use will evolve. Given the significant levels of uncertainty around how AI will evolve, the FPC is considering the potential macroprudential implications of more widespread, and changing, use of AI in the financial system.
In this context, the FPC is focused on the following areas:
- Greater use of AI in banks’ and insurers’ core financial decision-making (bringing potential risks to systemic institutions)
- Greater use of AI in financial markets (bringing potential risks to systemic markets).
- Operational risks in relation to AI service providers (bringing potential impacts on the operational delivery of vital services).
- Changing external cyber threat environment.
The FPC’s intends to build out its monitoring approach to enable it to track the development of AI-related risks to financial stability. The approach will need to be flexible and forward-looking given the uncertainties and potential pace of change in AI.
TheGuardian: EU to build AI gigafactories in €20bn push to catch up with US and China – Jennifer Rankin
The EU has revealed details of a €20bn (£17bn) plan to create new sites equipped with vast supercomputers in Europe to develop the next generation of artificial intelligence models, while opening the door to amending its landmark law that regulates the technology.
Publishing a strategy to turn Europe into an “AI continent”, the European Commission vice-president Henna Virkkunen said the technology was at the heart of making Europe more competitive, secure and technologically sovereign, adding: “The global race for AI is far from over.”
EUCommission: A Competitiveness Compass for the EU
This Communication sets out a compass that will guide the work [towards making the EU more competitive] in the coming five years and lists priority actions to reignite economic dynamism in Europe.
Europe needs the computing, cloud and data infrastructures that AI leadership requires. As part of the AI Continent strategy, the AI factories initiative will aim to leverage all the benefits from aggregation and network effects at European level. Building on Europe’s existing world-class network of EuroHPC supercomputers, the initiative establishes ‘AI factories’ to boost Europe’s computing power and makes it accessible for start-ups, researchers and industry to train, develop and improve their AI models. In parallel, through an EU Cloud and AI Development Act the Commission will mobilise public and private initiative to establish new AI Gigafactories specialised in training of very large AI models enabling key AI ecosystems throughout the EU.
the Commission will propose a Data Union Strategy to improve and facilitate secure private and public data sharing, simplify the regulatory regime and its application, and accelerate the development of new systems or applications.
NORTH AMERICA
WhiteHouse: Report to the President on the America First Trade Policy
Executive Summary
The America First Trade Policy Report (the Report) provides a foundation and resource for trade policy actions that will Make America Great Again by putting America First. It presents comprehensive recommendations covering the full scope of trade policies and challenges, from market access and the de minimis duty exemption to export controls and outbound investment restrictions.
The United States must combat efforts by foreign governments to collect illegitimate revenue from U.S. firms by imposing various discriminatory taxes and regulatory regimes aimed to capture the success of America’s most successful companies—not the least of which are our leading technology firms. Digital Services Taxes, for example, are often devised so as to shield most non-U.S. headquartered firms from taxation and UTPRs determine tax based primarily on factors outside the taxing jurisdiction.
The United States must ensure that its advanced technology does not flow to our adversaries. Export controls should be simpler, stricter, and more effective, while promoting U.S. dominance in AI and asserting global technological leadership.
At present, WTO Members have committed to a temporary moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions, known popularly as the e-commerce moratorium. In other words, no tariffs on data flows. However, some countries—such as India, Indonesia, and South Africa—seek to tariff the flow of data, thereby destroying the internet and harming the competitiveness for U.S. companies that are global leaders. USTR assessed the risks posed by data tariffs and made recommendations to ensure that the e-commerce moratorium is made permanent.
Politico: Why one industry is cautiously excited about Trump’s tariffs – Brendan Bordelon and Gaby Miller
With American industries broadly stressing out about President Donald Trump’s looming tariff plans, there’s one that sees a possible upside: Big Tech. For years, Silicon Valley giants have been complaining about foreign regulations on their platforms — taxes, fines and restrictions that the U.S. doesn’t impose, but other large governments do. Now, tech lobbyists are cautiously hoping President Donald Trump will use his tariff policy as a blunt-force instrument to push it back.
CNN: Smartphones and computers are now exempt from Trump’s latest tariffs – Auzinea Bacon
Electronics imported to the United States will be exempt from President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, according to a US Customs and Border Protection notice posted late Friday.
Analysts at Wedbush Securities on Saturday called the tariff exclusion, “the best news possible for tech investors.”
TechPolicyPress: Trump Administration Stakes Out Aggressive Stance on Foreign Tech Rules – Crisitano Lima-Strong
As US President Donald Trump intensifies a global trade war, his administration is ratcheting up its attacks against foreign governments’ regulations on American tech companies, raising the specter of ongoing levies unless nations ease off the industry.
In recent days, top Trump administration officials have repeatedly signaled they plan to pressure global leaders to pull back regulations they view as discriminatory toward the US tech sector.
ACLU, ISOC, Freedom House, CDT: A Call for US Leadership in the Digital Age
This letter from American civil society groups to the US Trade Representative Jaimeson Greer parrots industry talking points and argues that the US needs to back controversial digital trade provisions on issues such as access to source code, data flows, and non-discrimination. The Biden administration reversed the US position on these issues at the World Trade Organisation’s Joint Statement Initiative on Ecommerce in 2023. This is another in a series of efforts by the allies of Big Tech to force a rethink of American policy on digital trade and adopt policies that would limit public interest regulation of the digital economy.
FedScoop: Trump White House releases guidance for AI use, acquisition in government
The White House Office of Management and Budget released a pair of memos to provide agencies with guardrails for how they use and purchase artificial intelligence in the government, replacing Biden administration guidance but maintaining some of the same structures.
The first new memo (M-25-21) provides guardrails for use and replaces Biden’s directive on the same topic (M-24-10). That document states agencies are to focus on three priorities when accelerating the federal use of AI — innovation, governance and public trust — which align with an executive order on the technology from the first Trump administration.
WaPo: Kids are talking to ‘AI companions.’ Lawmakers want to regulate that – Will Oresmus and Andrea Jimenez
Padilla is sponsoring one of the country’s first attempts to regulate AI companions directly.
His bill, California S.B. 243, would require the makers of AI companion bots to limit addictive design features; put in place protocols for handling discussions of suicide or self-harm; and undergo regular compliance audits. It would also give users the right to sue if they suffer harm as a result of a companion bot maker’s failure to comply with the bill.
Quartz: TikTok is now caught in the trade war. Here’s why it matters – Jackie Snow
The nonstop barrage of tariff announcements has forced investors, CEOs, and ordinary Americans to become unwilling trade policy experts. Meanwhile, caught in the diplomatic crossfire: TikTok, the social video app that’s become both an economic bargaining chip and billionaire’s prize.
In the latest development, President Donald Trump confirmed Wednesday that a potential deal to spin off TikTok’s U.S. assets remains “on the table,” despite being temporarily put on hold. “We have a deal with some very good people, some very rich companies that would do a great job with it, but we’re going to have to wait and see what’s going to happen with China,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
The feeding frenzy for TikTok — with bids reportedly coming from Amazon, Blackstone, and even a crypto-backed proposal from OnlyFans founder Tim Stokley — suggests that many of America’s wealthiest individuals now see social media ownership as essential to their influence.
Trump’s role in this process cannot be overstated. After returning to office, the president positioned himself as TikTok’s ultimate decision-maker, despite a law mandating that the app be banned in the U.S. unless ByteDance sold it to an American owner.
White House: Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Closes De Minimis Exemptions to Combat China’s Role in America’s Synthetic Opioid Crisis
President Trump issued an Executive order aimed at closing the de minimis loophole allowing low value packages to enter the US duty free.
TheIntercept: Google Is Helping the Trump Administration Deploy AI Along the Mexican Border – Sam Biddle
Google is part of a Customs and Border Protection plan to use machine learning for surveillance, documents reviewed by The Intercept reveal.
Industry advocates and immigration hard-liners have long touted the “virtual wall” initiative, which substitutes iron and concrete barriers and Border Patrol agents for a 2,000 mile array of sensors, cameras, and computers. But critics say advanced technology is no substitute for policy reforms.
“On top of the wasted tax dollars, border communities end up paying the price with their privacy, as demonstrated by the recent findings by the Government Accountability Office that CBP had failed to implement six out of six key privacy policy requirements,” Dave Maass, director of investigations at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told The Intercept, referring to the tower program’s dismal privacy protections record. “For more than two decades, surveillance towers at the border have proven to be a boondoggle, and adding AI isn’t going to make it any less of a boondoggle — it will just be an AI-powered boondoggle.”
