US media: Trump’s upgrade and struggle with tiktok’s Chinese owners

According to US media on August 16, local time, US President Donald Trump ordered the Chinese owners of the short video app tiktok to sell their U.S. assets on the ground of national security. Trump’s decision was made after an investigation by the Committee on foreign investment in the United States (CFIUS), which is responsible for reviewing foreign investors’ proposals to acquire US companies for national security reasons. People familiar with the matter said the unexpected presidential order was in line with the Cfius timetable. < / P > < p > according to the latest presidential decree, the delivery of TikTok US business sale must be completed within 90 days of byte skipping. CFIUS may, at its discretion, extend the period for up to 30 days. Byte hopping and its branches, Chinese shareholders were also ordered to abandon and destroy from tiktok or Musical.ly Apply any data obtained or derived from the user. Trump’s previous executive order, which banned U.S. individuals and companies from doing business with the byte hopping of tiktok’s parent company, took effect within 45 days from August 6. The two dates proposed by the U.S. government indicate that buyers of tiktok’s U.S. business still face a 45 day deadline (September 20) to close the deal and need to complete the deal within 90 days of Trump’s latest presidential decree (November 12) to satisfy the Cfius. On Friday, when asked to clarify different deadlines, officials referred to the previous executive order. < / P > < p > “the initial order was hasty and confusing, and I personally thought it was a clean-up, a defense and a foresight of the threat that tiktok might sue.” “It’s to support the legitimacy of what they’re trying to do,” said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond < / P > < p > byte bounce bought the app in 2017 Musical.ly , merging it with tiktok to create a separate, integrated social media app. Trump’s presidential decree actually calls for the cancellation of the deal. < / P > < p > by obtaining Musical.ly The ownership of the coordinate Beijing’s byte jitter “may take actions that threaten the national security of the United States,” trump said in the presidential decree. In a statement, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven mnuchin said, “the Cfius has conducted a detailed review of the case and unanimously recommended that the president take this action to protect the personal data of U.S. users from exploitation.”. < p > < p > CFIUS is headed by Mr. mnuchin and includes officials from 16 government departments and agencies, including the State Department, the Department of defense, and the Department of Commerce. The White House referred questions about the decision to the Treasury. On Saturday, trump told reporters at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, that other Chinese companies could be subject to scrutiny by his government. Asked if he was considering banning or restricting other companies in the United States, trump said, “yes, we are thinking about other things.” But he did not elaborate. A tiktok spokesman pointed out that tiktok had said in a previous statement that it was “shocked by the recent presidential decree, which was issued without any due process”, and that it intended to “seek all available solutions to ensure that the rule of law is not discarded”. Trump is facing a tough re-election campaign at present. These presidential decrees and another administrative order on August 6 against wechat of China Tencent Holdings Co., Ltd. are consistent with the increasingly tough stance of the trump government towards China’s technology giants. < / P > < p > for tiktok, at least, by selling its U.S. operations, it is possible to get rid of the U.S. comprehensive ban. Microsoft commented on the deal negotiations earlier this month in a rare public blog post, saying it was considering acquiring the popular music video app. < / P > < p > but negotiations are still underway, and many people familiar with the matter said the agreement has not yet been finalized. In addition, a number of people familiar with the matter said that other U.S. technology companies, including twitter, are also studying the possibility of acquiring tiktok, but the progress of these negotiations is not clear. < / P > < p > a person involved in the discussion said that large venture capital and private equity companies, including Sequoia Capital and pan Atlantic investment, had prepared billions of dollars in an attempt to make the sale of tiktok more competitive. This could push up prices, prevent tiktok from being sold to Microsoft, and ensure that tiktok ends up in the right bidder’s hands. Financial companies such as Goldman Sachs and Blackstone have been competing to get involved in the deal, but these efforts have not made progress, according to three people familiar with the matter. < / P > < p > with regard to the president’s tip, this is the share that trump mentioned when he announced the ban that the US government would draw. Despite the unconventional approach, he has the power to impose monetary conditions under the Committee on foreign investment, a person familiar with the matter said. The ban on wechat, a ubiquitous messaging application with more than one billion users, may have a broader impact on Tencent, its parent company, and the long-term relationship between the United States and China. Wechat is essential for cross-border business and could have a real impact on US companies doing business in China. < / P > < p > the administrative order prohibiting tiktok and wechat was announced at about 9 p.m. on August 6, a few minutes after air force one landed at morriston New Jersey airport. According to the president’s public schedule, he is on his way to his golf club in Bedminster. According to two people familiar with the matter, Peter Navarro, a trade consultant, said Navarro, one of the most prominent officials in his circle, accompanied trump on the plane to sign executive orders banning these two applications, which surprised at least some trump administration officials in Washington, who did not know the presidential decrees were signed that night and were surprised that they were put together so quickly. < / P > < p > in the next few days, a faction of the trump administration began to receive complaints from trade groups and U.S. companies, who worried that the ban on wechat might be bad for companies. Some began to contact Mr. mnuchin and officials at the Ministry of Commerce, who wrote how to implement the presidential decree, to get the Department to withdraw some of the most radical language in the executive order. < / P > < p > “wechat’s communication and payment platform is the basis for communication and sales with 1.4 billion consumers in China.” “We will continue to work with the U.S. Department of Commerce and other government departments to ensure that the executive order does not undermine the competitiveness of US companies in China,” said Myron brilliant, head of international affairs at the American Chamber of Commerce < / P > < p > on Friday, when asked if he was worried that the action against wechat would affect companies such as apple, trump replied, “it doesn’t matter.” “We have to take actions that are good for national security,” he told Bloomberg news