For years, Chinese officials denounced U.S. demands that TikTok’s Chinese owner sell its American operations as daylight robbery. Now Chinese state media are hailing what might be an agreement to do just that as a win-win. And on Friday, China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, and President Trump are expected to speak by phone to bless the deal.
For China, the apparent reversal would be a way to offer the president the semblance of a win on an issue close to his heart — saving the hugely popular video app that he credits for helping him connect with young voters and win re-election. In exchange, Beijing is able to buy itself more room to negotiate on the matters it cares about most: tariffs, technology and Taiwan.
“There’s much bigger fish to fry,” said Yun Sun, the director of the China program at the Stimson Center in Washington. “If China can use these small concessions to trade for a positive atmosphere, better U.S.-China relations, they will want to do it,” she said, referring to TikTok.
The TikTok deal and the phone call could pave the way for a potential summit next month, their first in-person meeting of Mr. Trump’s second term. Beijing would prefer to host Mr. Trump, but the two leaders could also meet on the sidelines of an upcoming regional summit in South Korea.
TikTok may have always been a bargaining chip for China. The fate of the app in the United States, where it is deemed a national security threat, pales in comparison to Beijing’s other problems like U.S. export controls and tariffs, which could constrain China’s own economic and technological development.
TikTok’s recommendation algorithm is also less novel and therefore less important to the Chinese leadership than it was five years ago when the saga over the app began.
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