Abstract:

[Objective] As a new factor of production, data has become a new engine and driving force for the development of the global economy. Data cross-border governance directly affects the development of the national economy, society, and trade, and may even affect national security. The US is a pioneer and advantageous country in cross-border data governance. Studying the essential strategies of US governance and analyzing the gap between China and the United States plays a good role in further optimizing and improving China’s data cross-border governance. [Methods] This paper collates and compares the data of China and the United States in terms of data production and stock, digital trade, international Internet flow, etc., to more intuitively judge the current situation of data cross-border demand of China and the United States, and analyze the potential deficiencies in China’s cross-border data governance. [Results] Overall, the United States has a strong demand and control over cross-border data flow, while China’s cross-border data demand ranks among the top in the world, and data governance measures can achieve a balance between security and development. But it is necessary to consider the full connection of current cross-border data governance and demand and enhance control over the data flow. [Conclusions] This paper proposes a combination of “soft” strategies to promote data flow and “hard” strategies to regulate data flow, to build a long-term solution for cross-border data governance, which gradually enables an international hub for cross-border data flow.

Key words: cross-border data flow, data localization, data governance, digital economy, digital trade