Earlier this month, Trump had claimed that he wasn’t “confident” that China would approve the deal, even though he thought it was “good for China.” Analysts have suggested that China views TikTok as a bargaining chip in its tariff negotiations with Trump, which continue to not go smoothly, and it may be OK with the deal but unwilling to release the bargaining chip without receiving key concessions from the US.
US-China tariff talks complicate TikTok deal
For now, the US and China are enjoying a 90-day truce that could end in August, about a month before the deadline Trump set to sell TikTok in mid-September. In an op-ed this week, Sean Stein, the president of the US-China Business Council, suggested that “it is almost inevitable” that the US and China will extend the 90-day truce, indicating that Trump is far from securing a favorable deal for the US following weeks of tense negotiations with America’s biggest trade adversary.
It’s possible that the Trump administration is threatening to shut down TikTok in hopes that China will make a concession ahead of the September deadline. Lutnick’s comments could even mean that Trump has possibly failed to clinch the deal, which could have untold consequences in the US-China trade war, perhaps wounding Trump’s ego after his posturing that only he can save TikTok.
