The United States Supreme Court has ruled that TikTok poses serious security concerns in the United States and as such, Congress was right to require that the company be sold to American interests. Donald Trump, for his part, reacted by indicating that it would be up to him to apply the law, but that he had had very good conversations on this subject, among others, with Xi Jinping. Trump did not elaborate further on his conversations with the Chinese president. However, it is obvious that China will be at the heart of the concerns of the new Trump government.
1) Does TikTok spy on its customers?
Concrete proof of such espionage is very difficult to obtain. However, all major Chinese companies are directly controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. Their daily management is not necessarily in the hands of members of the Communist Party, but its members occupy key positions within all major companies. We do not see why TikTok would escape this rule. On the contrary, the personal information that the company collects constitutes a veritable gold mine and the Chinese authorities have certainly already succeeded in taking advantage of it. The US government is therefore right to seek to put an end to data theft.
2) Would a transfer of ownership end espionage?
A transfer of ownership would not necessarily stop it, since agents of the Chinese Communist Party would likely remain in key positions in the company. Some will point out that with American ownership, new espionage could now be done by the US government, if only because the computer servers will end up in the United States. However, espionage carried out by a democratic government does not carry at all the same dangers as that carried out by a totalitarian state.
3) Why does Trump seem to be protecting TikTok?
Trump appears to have changed his mind about the dangers of TikTok because studies have shown that, in general, videos on TikTok favored his candidacy. A portion of young voters voted for him because of TikTok. At least that’s what Trump suggests.
-4) How will Trump treat China?
Trump threatens to impose 100% tariffs on China’s products imported into the United States. This is because the first retaliatory measures that Trump decided against China during his first term did not deliver the expected results. The United States’ trade balance deficit with China improved, going from $418 billion in 2018 to $270 billion in 2024. However, the Chinese economy has been performing poorly for several years. It is possible that the Chinese government is prepared to make significant concessions to maintain its access to the American market. But it is clear that China’s economy is now more powerful than that of the United States. If Trump is serious about his plans to restore America to “its former greatness,” he will have to take down the economic might of China. However, it is difficult to see how he can achieve this.
5) What about Taiwan?
Taiwan constitutes a formidable military position for the United States located right next to China. However, if Trump is serious about his ambitions for territorial conquests, he could very well sell out Taiwan in exchange for China’s complicit silence. In Trump’s geostrategic calculations, whether Taiwan is a democracy and China a totalitarian regime seems to have no importance.
