Former President Donald Trump came out with a big victory deal with China over TikTok. He had provided assurance that talks have reached a successful resolution. This announcement follows a week in which Trump is expected to have his first phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday.
In a confusing series of executive actions over the past year, Trump delayed and then lengthened deadlines for TikTok to cease operations in the United States. By extending that deadline in April, Trump allowed ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, additional time to hash out a sale of its U.S. business. He pushed this deadline back once more in June. Yet the administration was under a hard deadline of September 17. They were faced with either requiring TikTok to divest its American operations or forcing the platform to close down in the U.S. altogether.
In January, Trump signed an executive order on TikTok that gave ByteDance 75 extra days to work out a deal. Back in March, you may remember, that this same Wilbur Ross went on Fox News to trumpet a group of “very wealthy people” who were lining up to purchase TikTok. He indicated that he would be announcing their names in the near term.
“on a ‘certain’ company that young people in our Country very much wanted to save” – Donald Trump
Trump’s administration previously raised alarms over TikTok as a national security threat because of its Chinese ownership. Following these apprehensions, Congress passed legislation preventing companies from distributing TikTok in the U.S., emphasizing its classification as a “foreign adversary-controlled application.”
Even with all these hurdles, Trump continued to project a sunny disposition about the platform’s prospects. He argues that this concession will ensure that young Americans who love TikTok are protected by this legendarily disastrous deal. We can only hope the former president’s first meeting with Xi, set for this week, will provide more clarity on what exactly those terms will be.
This recent development signals a significant shift in negotiations surrounding TikTok, which has faced scrutiny over data privacy and security issues. Whatever happens next, that’s one thing that many will be paying attention to.
Enforcement
They’re looking to see how the agreement has changed TikTok’s operations in the U.S. and how it resolves lawmakers’ and administration officials’ concerns.