Back to the complete issue
Wednesday, 2 September 2020

The FT explains Trump’s crackdown on WeChat and Tiktok

Explainer- Why Chinese social media apps have become the ICBMs in the US-China trade war: Chinese social media apps WeChat and TikTok have found themselves in the frontline of the every evolving global trade war between Washington and Beijing, after US President Donald Trump threatened to ‘close down’ TikTok on 15 September unless an American company buys it. FT's Washington bureau chief Demetri Sevastopulo and global China editor James Kynge discuss the implications of the move (watch, runtime: 10:44).

Why is this happening? Grand standing in an election year aside, the Trump administration has made technological superiority to China and limiting what it alleges as espionage by Chinese tech firm has been a crucial dynamic of the trade war since the Huawei ban. With the upcoming sale of TikTok and the IPO of Jack Ma’s Ant looking set to break records in a tech landscape starved of new blockbuster listings, the Trump administration feels the need to act.

The implication: As with the Cuban Missile Crisis, the fear is retaliation. US companies such as Apple see China as an important growth market, and any attempts by Beijing to retaliate could jeopardize that growth. We’re already seeing signs of that as China updated it’s export controls over the weekend to ensure that TikTok owner ByteDance must be granted government approval before an agreement is signed

Enterprise is a daily publication of Enterprise Ventures LLC, an Egyptian limited liability company (commercial register 83594), and a subsidiary of Inktank Communications. Summaries are intended for guidance only and are provided on an as-is basis; kindly refer to the source article in its original language prior to undertaking any action. Neither Enterprise Ventures nor its staff assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, whether in the form of summaries or analysis. © 2022 Enterprise Ventures LLC.

Enterprise is available without charge thanks to the generous support of HSBC Egypt (tax ID: 204-901-715), the leading corporate and retail lender in Egypt; EFG Hermes (tax ID: 200-178-385), the leading financial services corporation in frontier emerging markets; SODIC (tax ID: 212-168-002), a leading Egyptian real estate developer; SomaBay (tax ID: 204-903-300), our Red Sea holiday partner; Infinity (tax ID: 474-939-359), the ultimate way to power cities, industries, and homes directly from nature right here in Egypt; CIRA (tax ID: 200-069-608), the leading providers of K-12 and higher level education in Egypt; Orascom Construction (tax ID: 229-988-806), the leading construction and engineering company building infrastructure in Egypt and abroad; Moharram & Partners (tax ID: 616-112-459), the leading public policy and government affairs partner; Palm Hills Developments (tax ID: 432-737-014), a leading developer of commercial and residential properties; Mashreq (tax ID: 204-898-862), the MENA region’s leading homegrown personal and digital bank; Industrial Development Group (IDG) (tax ID:266-965-253), the leading builder of industrial parks in Egypt; Hassan Allam Properties (tax ID:  553-096-567), one of Egypt’s most prominent and leading builders; and Saleh, Barsoum & Abdel Aziz (tax ID: 220-002-827), the leading audit, tax and accounting firm in Egypt.