Trump seen using TikTok for leverage

Experts: U.S. President intends to force stake sale in app as bargaining chip

United States President Donald Trump is seemingly using TikTok, a popular social media platform owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance, as a bargaining chip for Sino-U.S. economic and trade relations, experts and market insiders said on Tuesday.

And a forced stake selloff through the use of political pressure deviates from the principles of market economy and fair competition, they said.

They said the U.S. government uses so-called national security threats as an excuse to contain and crack down on Chinese companies operating in the U.S., which not only harms the legitimate rights and interests of these enterprises, but also disrupts healthy market order and impedes global economic growth.

They made the comments after Trump on Monday signed an executive order delaying by 75 days the enforcement of a ban on the popular short-video app in the country. But the newly reelected leader said that future tariffs on China could hinge on a deal over TikTok's ownership.

As he signed the EO, Trump said the U.S. should be entitled to get half of TikTok if a deal for the app is reached, and he added that he intends to place tariffs on China if it fails to approve a deal to sell at least half of the social media mega-portal to a U.S. firm.

Bai Ming, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said the Trump administration is resorting to political maneuvers to threaten TikTok's Chinese owner to sell a significant stake, and suppress China's rise as a technological power.

Bai said such unilateral action not only violates the principle of fair competition in a free market, but also affects normal business activities of companies operating in the U.S., ultimately harming the rights of U.S. consumers, given that TikTok has gained wide popularity among the country's young generation.

The short video app used by 170 million U.S.-based users was briefly offline and disappeared from Apple's and Google's app stores on Saturday, hours before a law requiring its Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell the app to a U.S. company or face a nationwide ban took effect on Sunday.

TikTok restored access on Sunday after Trump said he would issue an EO on Monday to revive the app's access in the country.

He also has proposed to establish a joint venture where the U.S. owns 50 percent of the widely used app.

While the app is now back and running, it still faces an uncertain future.

Zhu Keli, founding director of the China Institute of New Economy, said that Trump's 50 percent ownership proposal is undoubtedly a direct intervention in the market behavior of enterprises.

The U.S. government generalizes the concept of national security and politicizes economic and trade issues, Zhu said.

Zhu also said that "the move not only goes against the basic principles of market economy, but may also have a negative impact on the global science and technology innovation ecosystem".

"TikTok is still facing several challenges in the U.S.. How to maintain user growth amid fierce market competition is an urgent problem. In addition, the U.S. government may continue to leverage political power to contain it, which further increases its uncertainties and operational difficulties in the country," he said.

Market insiders said U.S. authorities should create a fair, just and nondiscriminatory business environment for enterprises from all countries to invest and operate in the U.S., instead of interfering in the normal operation of enterprises through political means.