
President Trump on Tuesday extended the deadline for the owner of TikTok to divest in the service’s U.S. business or be effectively be banned.
Earlier this week, the White House announced a pending deal with the Chinese government to allow the popular video app to continue operating in the United States. Congressman Tim Walberg tells us he doesn’t know what the deal will look like, but it will have to include a few things.
“It certainly would require all of the data and information being stored in the United States under our control,” Walberg said. “There would have to be certain safeguards to make sure that it was not controlled or received anyway by the Chinese Communist Party. If that can happen, I think the platform can be extremely valuable.”
Is Chinese President Xi Jinping just dragging this out?
“I would be of the pessimistic point of view, but the president will be the one that’s doing the negotiation. I think he has proved, generally speaking, that he’s a pretty good negotiator and that he loves America.”
Walberg says he believes Trump will require no involvement of the Chinese Communist Party in TikTok’s U.S. operations for it to continue. Lawmakers last year passed legislation aimed at forcing a TikTok sale over concerns it could be used by the Chinese for espionage or other abuses of personal information.
The new deadline for TikTok owner ByteDance to divest in U.S. operations is December 16.