The International Trade Administration ('ITA') announced, on 30 November 2022, that in a joint press release with the U.S. Assistant Secretary for Global Markets and the UAE Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, the parties expressed the importance of deepening US-UAE cooperation on policies and practices affecting the digital economy. In particular, the parties noted that their ability to 'aggregate, store, process and safely transmit data across borders is critical to the development of the digital economy, digital trade, and innovation'. In this regard, the joint press release specifies that the parties are committed to working together in furtherance of their common understanding and recognition of the following:

• the economic and social benefits of ensuring robust data protections, and enforcement of those protections, while promoting interoperable mechanisms that facilitate cross-border data transfers across economies with different regulatory regimes;
• the intention to pursue innovative mechanisms to bridge regulatory differences, promote compatibility, and explore interoperability, including through mechanisms modelled after the Cross Border Privacy Rules system ('CBPR system');
• the intention to continue to share information on international frameworks and mechanisms that facilitate the transfer of personal data, and data privacy best practices to promote interoperability between their two privacy regimes; and
• the intention to promote the adoption and implementation of policies and rules in their bilateral and multilateral economic relationships to help ensure that mechanisms, such as certifications, are available for cross-border data transfers when necessary or appropriate, and the intention to share information on developments related to these issues.

You can read the press release here.