The US administration looks set to take a softer approach to security risks from China
Trump wanted TikTok to divest US operations: During 2020, the Trump administration sought to facilitate the sale of the Chinese social network TikTok to a US company. The Executive Order (EO) issued by Trump on 6 August 2020, to forbid transactions with the group that owns the service, was effectively setting a 45-days deadline for a US company to buy TikTok’s US operations.
TikTok continued to operate in the US: A federal court ruling suspended the EO in October 2020. The Government is due to give a formal response to TikTok’s court challenge on 18 February 2021, although it is currently unclear whether it will defend Trump’s EO.
Biden has reportedly shelved the plan: The new president is now reviewing how the Trump administration has handled potential security risks from Chinese tech companies. Officials of the new administration have publicly criticised Trump’s crackdown on Chinese companies as unilateral and not coordinated with other countries. Biden is likely to adopt a softer approach, in which the US forces companies such as TikTok to become leaders in data transparency, rather than banning them. Evidence of this approach is also playing out with WeChat. Another EO is due to come into effect next week but there are similar reports that the Biden team is distancing itself from attempts to ban it.
