China once condemned Washington's push to sever TikTok from its parent company ByteDance as an act of “robbery.” But as trade talks between the United States and China advanced, Beijing modified its stance.

Within the White House, national security concerns appear to have largely evaporated. After the app briefly went dark in January, Trump has repeatedly extended the deadline for TikTok to be sold, allowing it to continue operating as usual despite being deemed a security risk.

Sign up for Trump’s Return, a newsletter featuring coverage of the second Trump presidency. Most Republicans and many Trump-administration officials believe that the stakes of America’s competition with China are all but existential.

United States President Donald Trump touts his trade deals as victories against foreign countries, but it will ultimately be American businesses and consumers who pay the price. Trump’s tariffs are capricious protectionist measures ostensibly imposed to retaliate against other nations’ trade barriers,