Ultimately, it was Donald Trump, who wanted to save Tiktok, that money had learned that he might kill the short video app completely after he stayed in the US.
On Wednesday, Trump hit China, the very country that controls Tiktok, and received 145% tariffs on all imports as he “unfairly decided to retaliate against the United States” with 84% tax.
As Trump keeps China alone single while pausing it in other parts of the world, strict Tiktok negotiations have led to a halt that is likely to be difficult to overcome.
The reason is that Tiktok transactions are not simple M&A transactions. It's close to a geographical political and multi-layered boodoggle.
The app is technically owned by Chinese tech company Buitedan, but managed by Beijing, and has always been approved by the communist regime to sell it to a new company with general US ownership.
The U-turn on mutual tariffs that Trump suspended the trade war worldwide on Wednesday spoke about money except China is making nearly impossible transactions.
“The deal is dead because Chinese people don't like losing their faces in public,” said a Wall Street executive who knows firsthand the negotiations.
Another person involved in the discussion said, “Now they (the Chinese) won't sell. That's certainly true.”
Trump himself was a little more optimistic when asked on Wednesday how trade contres with China would affect the Tiktok trade.
“We'll have to wait to see what happens in China,” he said.
Since Trump took office in January, Tiktok's future in the US has become Limbo.
His first 75-day extension ended last week without a deal, so Trump enacted an additional 75-day extension. This means that while Tiktok can complete a structure in which large institutional investors, the White House and Chinese – abandon Tiktok's Chinese domination, Tiktok can still operate in the US, so that bytedance and the Chinese government can live together.
Another issue that raises doubts about Tiktok's survival in the US is that it may be legally difficult for Trump to continue extending the very important deadlines for him to follow the law.
On the other hand, if they reach a kind of trade deal with China, Chinese President XI may not want to steady the Trump administration and agree to terms, as Tiktok remains globally important even if it is banned in the US.
“Will Trump continue to issue extensions? Maybe it's not legal. XI doesn't seem to be in the mood to sign a deal in Tiktok, given what happened on Wednesday.”
The Chinese wanted minority stakes in new US companies. They also don't want to sell Tiktok's Crown Jewel – an algorithm that leaks videos based on its technology, user preferences.
While Chinese have long denied the issue of spying, US lawmakers are also concerned about new structures surrounding whether they will provide adequate protection against alleged spycraft. That's one of the reasons it took me a while to come up with a structure that would satisfy all the competing constituencies.
Tiktok is like a small potato given the considerable problems that both parties need to iron various other trade barriers from tariffs. Treasury Secretary Bescent said the administration is weighing the Chinese stock listing from the US exchange.
