While negotiations over TikTok’s fate in America drag on, China is playing hardball. Beijing knows exactly what it’s doing—delaying TikTok sale approval to gain leverage in broader trade talks. Smart move. They’ve got a ticking clock working in their favor with that September 2025 deadline looming over TikTok’s head. Either sell to American owners or get banned nationwide. Talk about pressure.
China’s hardball TikTok strategy uses time as leverage—delay now, gain concessions later before the 2025 deadline hits.
President Trump claims he’s got secret buyers lined up. Won’t tell us who they are, though. Oracle‘s name keeps popping up in rumors, but the official consortium? Total mystery. Trump seems weirdly confident that President Xi will eventually give the green light. Good luck with that.
The real sticking point isn’t even the sale itself—it’s that precious algorithm. You know, the one that keeps you scrolling for hours. China doesn’t want to give it up. At all. It’s their golden goose, their secret sauce. American negotiators are trying to finesse a licensing deal instead of ownership, but Beijing’s not exactly jumping at the offer.
The timing couldn’t be worse for US-China relations. Those tariffs the US slapped back on Chinese trade? Yeah, that killed the previous TikTok deal back in April. Shocking, absolutely no one.
Even if a miracle happens and both sides agree, untangling TikTok’s US operations from ByteDance will take forever. Maybe years. The tech separation alone would be a nightmare.
Meanwhile, TikTok keeps operating thanks to an executive order pause on the ban. Business as usual while the adults argue in the room next door. The app continues to serve its 170 million active users in the United States despite the ongoing political tensions. These discussions are primarily driven by data privacy issues related to potential Chinese government access to American user information.
The whole mess reveals just how deeply tech and trade are intertwined in modern geopolitics. Canada even pulled its digital services tax to help smooth things over in North America. Everyone’s feeling the ripple effects of this standoff.
And ByteDance? Stuck in the middle, watching its fate get decided by two superpowers. Tough break.
References
- https://kfoxtv.com/news/nation-world/tiktok-ban-extension-leaves-it-operational-in-the-us-with-little-clarity-about-its-future-donald-trump-bytedance-china-national-security-concerns-data-privacy
- https://www.nbcpalmsprings.com/2025/06/30/trump-teases-tiktok-buyer-identity-unknown
- https://english.almayadeen.net/news/technology/china-delays-tiktok-sale-to-maximize-leverage-in-trade-talks
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyLuUmoQh7w
- https://www.houseofmarketers.com/meta-courts-tiktok-creators-amid-us-tariff-uncertainty/
