TikTok’s Chinese owner appears to be slow-rolling negotiations for a sale while waiting for a green light from the Chinese government, even as corporate allies of President Donald Trump race to broker a deal to sell the app to an American bidder, according to three people familiar with the talks who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private business transactions.
But Beijing is increasingly likely to take a hard-line approach, letting TikTok’s U.S. operations die rather than approving a sale as it holds out for a “grand deal” with the Trump administration that includes larger concessions on trade and tech policy, according to one of the people and analysts.
The move comes as tensions between the nations have escalated into a trade war, with Trump drawing on emergency economic powers to impose sweeping tariffs on imports from China this week. Beijing retaliated with its own set of restrictions, including limits on exports of minerals used to make high-tech products and an antitrust investigation of Google.
The tactic is likely to undermine efforts from Trump, who has vowed to “save TikTok” by suspending enforcement of a law forcing a sale or a ban of the app while he negotiates divestment. It would also decimate a service that 170 million users nationwide depend on for entertainment and socializing.
Rui Ma, an investor and analyst who researches Chinese tech companies, said such a strategy would be viewed favorably by the Chinese public as standing up to Trump and protecting a locally created product.
“It might be a multi-billion dollar company, but it is still a David versus the Goliath that is the US government,” Ma said by email.
TikTok and the Chinese Embassy declined to comment. A White House spokeswoman directed The Washington Post to Trump’s Truth Social feed.
The sale-or-ban law, signed last year by President Joe Biden, aims to address concerns that TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance poses national security risks to the company’s users. On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order calling on his Justice Department to not enforce the law for 75 days so he can “pursue a resolution” outside of a complete ban.
China has for years vowed to block a sale of TikTok and, after Trump pushed for the app’s forced sale during his first term, added its central recommendation algorithm to an export-control list. Beijing argued last year that the United States has used “robbers’ logic” to justify the forced transaction.
But China recently seemed to soften its position, saying such decisions should be “determined by the companies themselves.” Some geopolitical observers have argued that TikTok could become a bargaining chip as the two superpowers negotiate over tariffs and trade.
Officials in China are now leery of delivering Trump a win without securing meaningful allowances, such as pledges of lighter tariffs and trade policy allowances on items such as semiconductor chips. This distrust is fueled by memories of Trump’s last year in office, when he put China on its heels by abruptly attempting to shut down the app.
ByteDance, too, has few incentives to participate in a deal, according to analysts. Since the app’s American user base represents just one part of the company’s global operations, shutting it down would not decimate the company’s business. Selling it, on the other hand, could create a new competitor for ByteDance.
“It’s not like [China] would never do it, but they will need a lot in return,” said one of the people. “They are willing to pull the plug.”
ByteDance has received a flurry of interest from would-be buyers since last April, when Congress passed the law effectively banning the wildly popular video app unless it divests from its Chinese ownership. The law was upheld last month by the Supreme Court, which agreed with the government that it did not violate the free speech rights of millions of TikTok users in the United States and that Congress had “good reason to single out TikTok for special treatment.”
In his first 100 days, Trump has positioned himself as the chief dealmaker to broker a sale of the private company. He noted last month many “very substantial people” have expressed to him “great interest” in buying the app and that he would decide on a buyer within 30 days.
While on Air Force One, Trump claimed that takeover talks with Microsoft had already begun. On Monday, he floated the idea that the U.S. might itself buy TikTok using a sovereign wealth fund.
“I like bidding wars because you make the best deal,” Trump said.
Trump said last month that he is “open” to X owner Elon Musk, one of his closest advisers, buying the company. “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary, flew to Mar-a-Lago in December to pitch Trump on a $20 billion offer that he and business magnate Frank McCourt recently presented to the tech giant. Microsoft, which in 2020 was the favored choice by ByteDance’s leadership, is also interested in a potential deal, according to one of the people.
Bill Ford, a ByteDance board member and the chief executive of ByteDance investor General Atlantic, said last month the company may pursue solutions “short of divestiture.” General Atlantic did not respond to multiple comment requests.
In addition to direct pressure on ByteDance, the Chinese government has several mechanisms it could use to squash a deal. It could employ its data-privacy rules or export controls, which prohibit the sale of recommendation algorithms like the one that powers TikTok’s feed.
The deal could be scuttled on the U.S. side too. Some TikTok investors, though eager to cash out, may not approve of the buyer or the deal size. And Republican lawmakers’ have recently rebuffed Trump’s decision to issue an executive order extending the sale deadline set by Congress, all of which could scuttle any deal.
ByteDance, a sprawling global company, has little to gain from selling TikTok, even for the likely multibillion dollar price tag targeted by investors.
ByteDance “doesn’t need this cash, it has more cash than it knows what to do with,” Ma, the investor and analyst, wrote on X recently, citing a report that said the company had generated nearly $7 billion in cash in the first quarter of 2023. “You think it makes sense for ByteDance to sell … a copy of its most valuable [intellectual property] for cash it doesn’t need?”
