It’s unheard of for the major parties to a mega-deal to diverge so drastically on its basic contours. While Trump has yet to give his final sign-off and the deal therefore remains in flux, Beijing will intervene if it feels ByteDance risks giving up too much, Trivium said in a note. — Bloomberg
Just a few days ago, the TikTok deal looked like a win for China. Now its state-run media are denouncing it as “an American trap” and a “dirty and underhanded trick”.
The quick shift in sentiment shows the complications of concluding an agreement that is about much more than finding a proper valuation for an addictive video app that has enthralled teenagers around the world. It also has big ramifications for how the world’s biggest economies handle security threats related to new technologies that will drive growth over the next few decades.
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