This year, America’s digital trade negotiator made a startling announcement at the World Trade Organization (WTO). The negotiator spoke at the behest of U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Kathrine Tai. At the time, Congress and various U.S. regulatory agencies were considering new regulations for large tech companies, which meant that the U.S. would no longer support language at the WTO related to cross-border data flows. In the words of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), the U.S. now needs “policy space” to regulate the tech giants.
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A Congressional Trade Office could resolve all this tariff confusion
Susan Ariel Aaronson Congress shares responsibility with the president for trade policy, yet Congress lacks the infrastructure and expertise to set objectives and monitor the administration’s actions. Moreover, because President Trump sees tariffs as his Swiss Army...
Do Chatbot Developers Act Responsibly toward their Users?
Susan Ariel Aaronson and Michael Moreno Please note this paper is forthcoming, to be published by the Balsillie School in February 2026. This study evaluates whether leading AI developers—OpenAI, Google, xAI, and DeepSeek—act responsibly toward users when building...
AI and Trade: The WTO’s Thoughtful but Incomplete Assessment
When the World Trade Organization (WTO) decided in 2024 to produce a report on the trade implications of artificial intelligence (AI), it set out to answer two key questions: How can the WTO help ensure that the benefits of AI are widespread? And, how can the...