Chinese officials appeared iffy on a proposal by Donald Trump for 50% American ownership of TikTok, hours after the incoming US president vowed to stop a ban on the app in the country.
Trump said on Sunday, he would issue an executive order that would give TikTok-owner ByteDance more time to reach a deal and prevent the short video app from a ban in the US.
He also floated the possibility of China and the US becoming equal partners as owners of TikTok.
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“I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture. By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to stay up,” Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.
“Without US approval, there is no TikTok. With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars – maybe trillions,” Trump wrote.
On Monday, however, Chinese officials seemed bleak on Trump’s proposal.
China’s foreign ministry told a regular news briefing that it believed companies should “decide independently” about their operations and deals. Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said acquisitions involving Chinese enterprises will need to comply with Chinese laws and regulations.
She also noted that “TikTok has operated in the US for many years and is deeply loved by American users.”
“We hope that the US can earnestly listen to the voice of reason and provide an open, fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for firms operating there,” Mao added.
Those remarks came even as Trump’s vow of support prompted TikTok to restore its services in the US, after it stopped working for its American users late on Saturday.
TikTok chose to shut down its services in the US ahead of a law banning the app coming into effect on Sunday. The law sought ByteDance to sell TikTok’s US operations, or face a ban starting January 19.
But the TikTok blackout was not necessary, considering the outgoing Joe Biden administration had said it will not enforce the divest-or-ban law and leave its implementation to Trump.
The Biden Administration had previously said TikTok’s threats to “go dark” were a “stunt”.
A day of drama
Still, in the minutes after US users lost access to TikTok, web searches for “VPN” spiked, according to Google Trends.
Users on Instagram also fretted about whether they would still receive merchandise they had bought on TikTok Shop, the video platform’s e-commerce arm.
Hours later, on Sunday, TikTok announced its return in a message to its American users: “As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the US.”
“In agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service,” TikTok said in the statement that also thanked Trump for “providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties (for) providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive.”
Meanwhile, Trump’s incoming National Security Adviser Mike Waltz also told CNN on Sunday that Trump would not rule out continued Chinese ownership of TikTok if steps were taken to ensure that American users’ data was protected and stored in the US.
Waltz told CNN the president-elect is working to “save TikTok” and doesn’t rule out continued Chinese ownership coupled with “firewalls to make sure that the data is protected here on US soil.”
At his pre-inauguration rally later, Trump reiterated that commitment to TikTok.
“Frankly, we have no choice. We have to save it,” he said.
Divisions around Trump
Trump’s support for TikTok comes at a tense moment in US-China relations. Trump has said he intends to place tariffs on China but has also indicated he hopes to have more direct contact with China’s leader Xi Jinping.
Him saving TikTok also represents a reversal in stance from his first term in office. In 2020, Trump aimed to ban the app over concerns the company was sharing Americans’ personal info with the Chinese government.
This time around, however, Trump has said he has ‘a warm spot in his heart’ for TikTok, crediting the app with helping him win over young voters in the 2024 presidential election.
Trump’s newfound love for TikTok has also brought to the fore divisions on the issue between him and his party and supporters.
Just on Sunday, his current close aide Elon Musk, said that while he was against a ban on TikTok, the ban on his social platform X in China was “unbalanced.”
“Something needs to change,” Musk wrote in a post on X.
I have been against a TikTok ban for a long time, because it goes against freedom of speech.
That said, the current situation where TikTok is allowed to operate in America, but 𝕏 is not allowed to operate in China is unbalanced.
Something needs to change. https://t.co/YVu2hkZEVZ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 19, 2025
Meanwhile, disagreement also brewed within Trump’s Republican Party.
Republican senators Tom Cotton and Pete Ricketts said in a joint statement: “Now that the law has taken effect, there is no legal basis for any kind of ‘extension’ of its effective date. For TikTok to come back online in the future, ByteDance must agree to a sale that satisfies the law’s qualified-divestiture requirements by severing all ties between TikTok and Communist China.”
The lack of clarity on a future for TikTok and the divest-or-ban law meant US app stores took the safer route, making the app unavailable for downloads starting Sunday.
Other apps owned by ByteDance, including video editing app CapCut and lifestyle social app Lemon8, were also offline and unavailable in US app stores as of early Monday.
Announcing the unavailability of the apps, iPhone-maker Apple said it was “obligated to follow the laws in the jurisdictions where it operates.”
- Vishakha Saxena, with Reuters
Also read:
American ‘TikTok Refugees’ Flock to New Chinese Apps – CNN
TikTok Calls Report on Possible Sale to Elon Musk ‘Pure Fiction’
Can Donald Trump Save TikTok From a Ban in the US?
If Legal Fight Fails, ByteDance ‘Would Prefer to Shut TikTok in US’
Forced Sale of TikTok is About Security, Not Free Speech, US Says
‘China Won’t Allow It’: TikTok Compares Divestiture to Chip Ban
Trump Says He Will ‘Never Ban TikTok’ if Elected – NYPost
TikTok Hit by US Legal Barrage For ‘Harmful’ Impacts on Kids
Nearly Half of Gen Z Wish TikTok Was Never Invented: US Poll
EU MP: TikTok CEO ‘Must Explain Role in Romanian Poll’ – Politico
Canada Orders TikTok to Shut Offices in the Country – Reuters
