What do they do in China that is different to the US?

They segregate Chinese data in China and have easy access to it. I wonder if they leave the rest of the world data in the US.

Do they store US data in the US and have easy access to it?

They also are intentionally fuzzy with Americans. Your privacy is important they say. They say that they will fight against government to protect your privacy. What is more important is that they don’t tell you. Your data is backed up onto Apple’s servers and Apple has the key. What I read is that Apple got pushback from the FBI. Don’t hear about the FBI suing Apple for access anymore. Wonder why? Maybe they have all the access they want while Apple can continue to brand itself the privacy moralists. Hahahahaha!

https://www.sott.net/article/427853-Backdoored-backup-FBI-ba...

The difference is that in the US, Apple pretends to be for privacy whereas in China there are no such pretensions. Also because of greater reach, US companies have access to far more countries and people who are not at all protected by US laws.

Do they store German data in the US and have easy access to it?

Google stored it everyone’s data everywhere and somehow the US had access to ALL of it unencrypted.