The ambiguous position of TikTok, the Chinese-controlled video platform, in the United States is being overshadowed by significant economic concerns with China.
Next week, President Donald Trump is anticipated to provide TikTok with yet another lifeline, as his administration’s attempts to persuade the Chinese-controlled app to sell off its U.S. operations seem to be hampered by larger trade talks with Beijing.
As long as the video-sharing site is still under the control of its Chinese parent company, ByteDance Ltd., Trump has issued three orders instructing the U.S. Justice Department to refrain from enforcing a bipartisan bill that was meant to ban TikTok nationally as of January 19. His most recent ruling, which was announced in the middle of June, gave TikTok a reprieve until this Wednesday, September 17.
Since the Trump administration’s primary objectives with China are to reach a trade agreement and maintain a tariff truce that is in effect until mid-November, analysts who track U.S.-China ties anticipate another extension in the days ahead.
Neil Thomas, a fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis, stated, “I believe that Trump will continue to extend TikTok’s lifeline in the United States until a more comprehensive agreement can be reached.” According to MarketWatch, the president appears at ease using TikTok in the United States and doesn’t appear to be in a rush.
Thomas said that a settlement on the app might be imminent, as TikTok is one of the topics that Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent are scheduled to discuss during their meeting in Spain next week.
“Beijing wants to use TikTok as part of its broader leverage in bilateral trade negotiations with the Trump administration and so won’t want to give something for nothing,” Thomas stated to MarketWatch. “Getting Beijing’s signoff for transferring TikTok’s U.S. entity to an American consortium will probably require Washington to give something when it comes to tariff reductions or export controls.”
He added that he wants to find out whether Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping can meet while they are in South Korea for a conference on Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, which is set for October 31–November 1.
In mid-August, when the Trump White House opened its own TikTok account, Trump told reporters that security worries about the program are “highly overrated.” While highlighting the possibility of further extension, the president also stated that he has not discussed the app with his Chinese counterpart, despite the fact that TikTok’s U.S. business has attracted potential American buyers.
“I haven’t discussed it with President Xi. I’ll do it when the moment is right and we’re ready. In mid-August, Trump stated, “We just extend a little bit longer until the complexity of things work out, but we have buyers.”
Trump said in April that if he hadn’t imposed fresh tariffs that month, China would have consented to a deal on a TikTok spinoff.
According to Michael Sobolik of the Hudson Institute, Trump is in the camp that anticipates another extension in the near future, despite a recent story suggesting that he may be growing impatient and may allow TikTok to go black for a short time.
“I’d be pretty surprised if they made TikTok go dark next week, because I’m sure they’re frustrated with the delays over TikTok, but it’s also no mystery that Trump has ‘trade deal’ at the top of his priority list,” Sobolik, a senior fellow at the conservative think tank, stated.
On the basis of national security concerns, Sobolik stated that he still supports the law that has targeted TikTok and finds it troubling that it isn’t being implemented.
“Allowing America’s foremost geopolitical adversary to control one of the most popular social-media apps in our country is an unacceptable national-security risk,” said Sobolik, who wrote the 2024 publication “Countering China’s Great Game: A Strategy for American Dominance.”
In his assessment of the Trump administration’s overall dealings with China this year, former U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman stated that Beijing “has done quite a good job of discovering where they have leverage over the U.S. – that it’s not just the U.S. having leverage over China.” Former Obama administration official Froman is currently head of the research tank Council on Foreign Relations. He made his comments on Friday at a gathering organized by another think tank, the Brookings Institution, in Washington.
Although tariffs have escalated then de-escalated, Froman pointed out that the Trump administration has “not dealt with the underlying issues” thus far. He clarified that he was alluding to long-standing American worries about China, including the need for a more consumer-driven economy there, its state-run businesses and subsidies, and its theft of intellectual property.
