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President Donald Trump said that China’s tariffs could lie in transactions over Tiktok’s ownership.
Within hours of Monday’s inauguration, Trump postponed a deadline calling for Tiktok’s Chinese parent ordinance to sell shares in the app or face a domestic ban.
Trump said that if the app continues to operate beyond that cutoff and “certainly” can “certainly” impose tariffs on China if it “really” refuses the transaction, the US “will have the right to get half of Tiktok.” It should be.” ”.
He said tariffs could be as high as 100%. “In the end (Beijing) will approve it as we will impose tariffs on China,” Trump said he signed the order. “I’m not saying I’d do that, but you certainly could.”
China was one of three countries that Trump threatened to strike tariffs on his first day in office. On Monday, he said he could levie Canada and Mexico from February 1st.
However, he did not enact a sweep of 60% collection on Chinese imports, as he promised during the campaign.
The move to curb tariffs on China appeared to provide negotiation tips for the Tiktok transaction. Trump spoke to Chinese leaders Xi Jinping and Xi Jinping on Friday, saying that Beijing did not confirm the debate but raised the Tiktok issue.
Tiktok resumed its service hours later, after a temporary unavailable to approximately 170 million US users in the middle of the night on Sunday following the initial deadline under the “Sell or Prohibited” Act.
The executive order said companies that distribute and host Tiktok, including Apple, Google and cloud provider Oracle, are not liable for violating the law during the 75-day extension. Under the law, service providers fined $5,000 per user.
But Tom Cotton, Republican president of the Senate Intelligence Email Committee, warned the company on Sunday that it would violate the law and endanger “destructive bankruptcy.”
Tiktok’s CEO Shaw Joo was hit with a fascinating attack after Trump wanted to “save” the app during the campaign.
Chu attended the inauguration ceremony with tech billionaires Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, sitting next to Tulsi Gabbard, a candidate for Trump’s National Intelligence Director, and from some observers. It attracted criticism.
Many US politicians and security officials believe that the Chinese government can use Tiktok to access American personal information. Tiktok denies that Beijing has control of the app.
Tiktok also states that the sale is not technically feasible within the time frame of the law. Beijing shows that it opposed sales.
Nevertheless, Trump suggested that if the app continues to operate, the US should pay “half of Tiktok’s value” and said, “If I don’t make a trade, it’s not worth it. I’ll trade If you do, it’s probably worth a trillion dollars.”
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Last week, the Financial Times reported that Chinese officials were using Trump’s close confidant Musk to discuss it as a broker for a potential sale of Tiktok’s US business. Musk on Monday met Han Chang, the vice-president of China, who attended Trump’s inauguration.
He also added that Western platforms such as his social media site X are banned in China but “need to change” as “unbalanced.”
Beijing did not immediately respond to Trump’s comments threatening tariffs if he did not agree to the Tiktok deal.
On Monday, China’s Foreign Ministry said decisions regarding Tiktok’s ownership should be “determined by the corporations themselves, in accordance with market principles.”
Additional Reports by Aime Williams in Washington
