TRUMP SUGGESTS EASING CHINA TARIFFS TO CLINCH TIKTOK SALE

Software titan Alphabet faces a pivotal moment as U.S. President Donald Trump proposes softening trade levies on China to broker a deal for TikTok, the short-video app owned by Beijing-based ByteDance.

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The White House leader floated the idea during an Oval Office press briefing, hinting that a reduction in levies could sway China into approving a sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations, a platform boasting 170 million American users. For tech firms, trade analysts, and policymakers, it’s a strategic nudge—Trump aims to resolve a national security standoff while reshaping economic pressures on a key global rival.

This proposal emerges amid a tangle of trade and tech tensions. ByteDance confronts a looming deadline to divest TikTok’s U.S. arm or face a ban, a mandate rooted in a law citing risks of Chinese government influence over American user data. Trump, who delayed enforcement of that ban upon taking office, suggested that easing levies might unlock Beijing’s approval, a nod to China’s critical role in any transaction. He framed the app’s value as secondary to trade leverage, telling reporters, “Every point in tariffs outweighs TikTok,” a blunt signal of his bargaining priorities.

TikTok’s saga began as a cultural juggernaut, amassing 170 million U.S. users with its snappy videos, only to hit a wall when lawmakers flagged its ByteDance ties as a security threat. The app briefly went offline before Trump’s intervention restored it, setting a new deadline for a sale. Now, with levies as a bargaining chip, the White House seeks to steer a deal that keeps TikTok alive under American ownership, a high-stakes play blending tech control with trade policy.