The Privacy Advisor · Jedidiah Bracy, IAPP Editorial Director

Transatlantic data flows, the CBPR and AI: A conversation with the International Trade Administration's Bill Guidera

March 27, 2026·31 min·2 clips

Cross-border data flows underpin a $9.8 trillion US-EU economic relationship — and 49% of all US digital service exports go to Europe.

The DPF comes first. The host starts with Safe Harbor, Privacy Shield, and the still-intact EU-U.S. data privacy framework, then asks Bill Guidera for the International Trade Administration view from inside the machinery. The legal stance is careful but confident. Guidera says the government is watching the Latum challenge closely and still has confidence in the DPF's safeguards and durability. The General Court decision matters, but nobody treats it as the finish line. The September 2025 dismissal of the challenge to the Commission's adequacy decision is described as welcome, while the appeal remains active. Guidera notes that Department of Justice colleagues are handling the matter for the United States government and that a January response has been submitted. The tone stays steady. When the host raises the Court of Justice's skepticism toward U.S. surveillance and redress mechanisms, Guidera does not make predictions. He sticks with institutional confidence. CBPR then becomes the comparison point. Guidera presents the global cross-border privacy rule system as another Commerce-backed effort that has held up, drawing on a privacy policy career he traces back to fall 1999. He gives much of the credit to career colleagues at the Department of Commerce, describing the programs as durable, sustainable, and rigorous. Trade policy comes in through the setup. The cold open puts Argentina and Bangladesh next to privacy transfer mechanisms, a useful reminder that data governance now moves alongside services and digital trade. AI gets the closing slot. Guidera describes close coordination with agencies including the State Department and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The ITA role is outward-facing: help other countries benefit from American artificial intelligence technology while supporting U.S. services industries abroad. The episode is procedural, but that is the point. For privacy professionals, the useful part is the map of courts, agencies, institutions, and transfer frameworks carrying transatlantic and global data policy right now.

As heard by us

A focused look at how U.S. data-transfer rules, CBPR certification, and AI policy are being framed inside Commerce.

The Privacy Advisor uses Bill Guidera's Commerce Department perch to make cross-border data policy feel less abstract and more operational. The strongest stretch is on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework: Guidera says the U.S.

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Why you'd press play

For a clear read on the privacy rules that keep data moving across borders.

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