The Trump administration has directed American diplomats to actively oppose foreign regulations targeting how U.S. technology companies manage overseas citizens’ personal information, according to an internal State Department communication obtained by Reuters.
The diplomatic directive, issued February 18 and bearing Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s signature, warns that international data sovereignty measures could harm artificial intelligence services and disrupt global information networks.
Policy analysts suggest this represents a shift toward more aggressive tactics as nations worldwide increasingly seek to control how Silicon Valley giants process and store their residents’ digital information through what experts call “data sovereignty” or “data localization” policies.
According to the State Department memo, such regulations would “disrupt global data flows, increase costs and cybersecurity risks, limit Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cloud services, and expand government control in ways that can undermine civil liberties and enable censorship.”
The communication outlined the administration’s push for “a more assertive international data policy” while instructing diplomatic personnel to “counter unnecessarily burdensome regulations, such as data localization mandates.”
The State Department has not responded to requests for comment regarding the directive.
These data protection efforts have accelerated across Europe amid growing tensions between Washington and the European Union over trade protectionism and political interference concerns.
European officials have expressed mounting anxiety about American AI companies’ dominance, particularly given these firms’ reliance on vast personal data collections to fuel their technological models. Continental regulators have simultaneously intensified scrutiny of American social media platforms.
Bert Hubert, a Netherlands-based cloud computing specialist and former Dutch intelligence oversight board member, believes Europe’s growing skepticism of American tech firms may be prompting Washington’s more confrontational stance.
“Where the previous administration attempted to woo European customers, the current one is demanding that Europeans disregard their own data privacy regulations that could hinder American business,” he said.
International data sovereignty legislation takes various forms. Some regulations mandate that information collected within specific countries remain stored domestically. Others restrict how data gets shared, limiting distribution to foreign corporations. The European Union’s 2018 General Data Protection Regulation exemplifies such measures, imposing transfer restrictions on Europeans’ data and resulting in substantial penalties for American technology companies.
Rubio’s communication specifically criticized GDPR as imposing “unnecessarily burdensome data processing restrictions and cross-border data flow requirements.”
The memo also accused China of “bundling enticing technology infrastructure projects with restrictive data policies that expand its global influence and access to international data for surveillance and strategic leverage.” Beijing has strengthened oversight of how Chinese companies handle and transfer user information in recent years.
China’s Washington embassy stated unfamiliarity with the diplomatic cable but emphasized that Beijing “has always attached great importance to cybersecurity and data security.” The European Commission’s Washington office did not provide comment.
The directive, labeled an “action request,” assigned American diplomatic staff to monitor proposals restricting international data transfers while providing promotional materials for the Global Cross-Border Privacy Rules Forum. This organization, established in 2022 by the United States alongside Mexico, Canada, Australia, Japan, and other nations, aims “to support the free flow of data and effective data protection and privacy globally.” The Forum has not responded to inquiries.
This communication represents the latest effort to challenge European digital regulation initiatives.
Last year, Rubio instructed diplomats to build opposition against the EU’s Digital Services Act, legislation designed to enhance internet safety by requiring major social platforms to eliminate illegal content including extremist materials and child exploitation imagery. Reuters recently reported that the United States plans to launch an online platform helping Europeans and others circumvent censorship of content including alleged hate speech and terrorist propaganda.
