Recent developments in the U.S.-China trade war, particularly on issues of digital trade, reflect the deficiencies of international law. Specifically, recent unilateral actions by both sides show how multilateral institutions such as the United Nations and the World Trade Organization are ill-equipped to handle issues of global governance relating to digital technology. These actions include the most recent round of unilateral U.S. tariff increases on Chinese imports, as well as China's response — such as retaliatory tariffs on $60 billion of U.S. goods.
In the tech arena, the mandated sale of U.S. firms Grindr and Patientslikeme by the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States by their Chinese investors, as well as President Donald Trump's executive order last week — giving the U.S. government more control over any sale of U.S. technology related to the intentionally vaguely defined areas of national security or the digital economy — all reflect this growing interventionist approach by the U.S. government.
Ultimately, the task of regulating the international digital economy has largely been left to individual states. For example, a recent development in digital trade protection has been the addition of digital regulation requirements in chapter 19 of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. While the USMCA understandably seeks to standardize rules for digital privacy protection, online consumer welfare and government data disclosure across its participating countries, such agreements are always designed in conjunction with the strategic national security priorities of its member states. Specifically, a stronger member-state — in this case, the U.S. — would take the initiative to center the creation of such regional norms around its own national security interests.