自歐巴馬政府起，網路安全已成了美中兩國持續且棘手的衝突問題。中國的網路間諜活動，對美國的國家安全利益構成嚴重的挑戰。同樣地，美國亦對中國政府及「華為」進行網路入侵與電話監聽。蓋北京否認其政府參與對美國的網路入侵，但與美方達成網路安全合作五點共識。歐巴馬總統偏好建立雙邊對話機制以緩和美中緊張，而川普總統則選擇將網路安全與貿易談判掛勾的策略；另外，中國尋求聯合國系統主導下的網路安全國際規範，並曾與美國協商「信心建立措施」。但是，能否達成網路空間運作規範仍有待觀察。

From the Obama Administration onward, cybersecurity has represented a lingering and thorny conflict between the U.S. and China. Chinese cyber-espionage activities pose a serious challenge to the U.S. national security interests. By the same token, American intelligence has conducted extensive internet and phone surveillance on the Chinese government and Huawei. The Chinese government denies its involvement in cyberspace intrusions but agreed to a five-point consensus on cybersecurity cooperation with the United States. President Obama preferred building a bilateral cybersecurity dialogue mechanism to defuse the tension with China. President Donald Trump has chosen an approach of linking cybersecurity issues with the trade negotiations. China seeks international norms of cybersecurity under the United Nations system and sought confidence-building measures on cybersecurity with the United States. Whether China and the U.S. can reach certain norms regarding operations in cyberspace remains to be seen.