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The United States and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are locked in a trade war. President Donald Trump’s April 2, 2025, tariff announcement has spiraled into a campaign China’s role in the global economy. US tariffs on PRC exports have reached 145 percent, and Beijing has  with a 125 percent levy on US goods. Senior administration officials have admitted in private conversations that this paradigm is , a sentiment Trump has  publicly: â€�145 percent is very high, and it won’t be that high,â€� the president said. Stock and bond market volatility has been worse than many expected, and China has demonstrated a willingness to escalate. Now the Trump administration appears to be searching for off-ramps.

Unfortunately, Washington does not have the luxury of backing down. The global economy is a key domain in America’s broader cold war with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Chinese President Xi Jinping recognized this reality long before Trump’s tariffs. In a 2013 address that effectively served as his inauguration, Xi  of “the basic contradiction of capitalist society,â€� declared that “socialism will inevitably triumph,â€� and predicted the “ultimate demise of capitalism.â€� That same year, Beijing’s National Defense University released a documentary criticizing the United States. Its title was telling: Silent Contest. The  opening lines were equally unambiguous: “The process of China’s realization of the great undertaking of national rejuvenation must ultimately follow from testing and struggle against the system of American hegemony.â€�

Still, US officials have been slow to recognize the systemic nature of the CCP’s challenge to America. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently  that “China needs to changeâ€� its unstable economic model. This sentiment is to be expected, as Republican and Democratic administrations have critiqued Beijing’s economic practices for decades. Yet few have done anything of substance to hold the PRC accountable.

Trump’s focus on competing with China is a step in the right direction. But the administration’s current program is undermining America’s broader interests. Viewing this trade war as a strictly economic concern that can be resolved with a trade deal will set the US up for further exploitation and ultimate defeat. Beijing has routinely demanded upfront concessions from America in exchange for future promises from China. This would be a victory for Xi, who has a history of  to US presidents.

President Trump faces an inescapable irony: if he wants to de-escalate a trade war on terms favorable to America, he needs to escalate the broader cold war with China. His administration should first identify US advantages over Beijing. Then, rather than ceding these advantages through trade negotiations, he should exploit them to weaken the CCP. Concurrently, Trump will need to signal his resolve to Xi and demonstrate America’s will to tolerate short-term pain for long-term benefit.

Fortunately for the White House, such leverage already exists. For an effective first step in this escalation, Trump need look no further than TikTok.

Background: TikTok, National Security, and Trump’s Evolving Response

Xi has  the internet as the CCP’s “main battlefieldâ€� and  a “strong internet armyâ€� to blunt anti-China perceptions. In 2021, Xi stressed Beijing’s need to  “external discourse mechanismsâ€� over specific foreign audiences to “make friends, unite and win the majority, and constantly expand our circle of friends who know China and are China-friendly.â€� Xi did not mention TikTok, but  did so in subsequent coverage.

Since then, TikTok has become the , boasting over 170 million US users. For an increasing number of these users, the app is their primary news source. Congress and multiple presidential administrations have paid increasing attention to TikTok—not for its popularity, but for the threat posed by its corporate structure.

ByteDance Ltd., TikTok’s parent company, is domiciled in the PRC. The CCP’s single-party rule in the country, the party’s establishment of cells within ByteDance, and ByteDance’s pledge to align TikTok’s algorithm with CCP interests have rightfully made US officials concerned about the app. Revelations that ByteDance uses TikTok’s user data to surveil US journalists and manipulates the app’s algorithm to censor content at the behest of the CCP have exacerbated these concerns.

TikTok’s massive user base therefore creates major  risks. But perhaps more importantly, TikTok is part of the CCP’s efforts to shape global discourse. In the wake of Hamas’s terrorist attacks against Israel on October 7, 2023, pro-Palestinian content  pro-Israel content by a margin of four to one. In November 2023, Osama bin Laden’s “Letter to Americaâ€�  on TikTok, causing many young Americans to express sympathy with the mastermind behind the September 11 terrorist attacks. In March 2024, TikTok targeted users in key congressional districts and blocked them from opening the app unless they called their member of Congress to advocate against legislation targeting Beijing’s control of TikTok.

These incidents are neither isolated nor random. Researchers at the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) at Rutgers University released a peer-reviewed study in 2024 that included alarming findings. Compared to Instagram and YouTube, TikTok disproportionately amplified pro-CCP content and suppressed content critical of Beijing. The study also revealed evidence of “psychological indoctrination . . . aligning with the CCP’s strategic objectives.â€� NCRI concluded that TikTok was part of a  “to impact user beliefs and behaviors on a massive scaleâ€� with “algorithmic manipulationâ€� and “prolific information operations.â€� These findings are congruent with Xi’s emphasis on the information battle space and CCP-controlled media’s identification of TikTok as a valuable tool in that domain.

Trump amplified these concerns during his first administration. In a 2020 , he laid out the threats TikTok poses to the United States:

TikTok automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users, including internet and other network activity information such as location data and browsing and search histories. This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans� personal and proprietary information—potentially allowing China to track the locations of federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage.

TikTok also reportedly censors content that the Chinese Communist Party deems politically sensitive, such as content concerning protests in Hong Kong and China’s treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities. This mobile application may also be used for disinformation campaigns that benefit the Chinese Communist Party, such as when TikTok videos spread debunked conspiracy theories about the origins of the 2019 novel coronavirus.

These risks are real.

In April 2024, Congress passed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which sought to regulate social media platforms and other apps that hostile nations could use to harm Americans or US interests. After a legal battle that concluded with a Supreme Court decision in the act’s favor, the so-called TikTok ban was set to take effect on January 19, 2025. But one of Trump’s first actions upon returning to office in January 2025 was to issue an  instructing US Attorney General Pam Bondi not to enforce the act for 75 days. The following month, Apple and Google  on their app stores after receiving written guidance that the Department of Justice would not hold them liable for violating the act. President Trump concurrently empowered senior officials in his administration to negotiate and finalize a deal with TikTok that would guarantee its continued US operations while also addressing national security concerns. Vice President JD Vance led these  with assistance from then–National Security Advisor Michael Waltz.

This indicates that the second Trump administration’s policy on TikTok is completely at odds with that of his first administration. But TikTok is a powerful weapon for Beijing. If Trump seeks to win this trade war, he should reconsider this policy shift.

TikTok Is a Powerful Weapon in China’s Information War

It was widely reported earlier this year that a consortium of US investors would acquire a 50 percent ownership position in a  called TikTok America. ByteDance’s shares would constitute less than 20 percent. But the company would  of the algorithm and lease it to TikTok America. The deal also reportedly included provisions for Oracle, a US data firm, to look into the algorithm’s source code  any suspicious or threatening activity.

That deal  in the wake of President Trump’s announcement of “Liberation Dayâ€� tariffs on PRC exports. Instead of forcing US companies like Apple, Google, and Oracle to deplatform and withhold cloud services for TikTok, Trump extended the deadline for negotiations and allowed TikTok to continue operating in the United States under CCP control.

Multiple reports from the past month suggest TikTok is playing a unique role in Beijing’s trade war countermeasures. At the beginning of April, DHgate, a Chinese wholesale marketplace app, was outside the top 350 free iPhone apps (not including games). By April 11, it was number six. The next day, it was . Taobao, a similar Chinese app, enjoyed the same download bump, becoming the tenth-ranked free iPhone app on April 7. Tech Crunch reports that these apps rose in popularity thanks to TikTok, where users promoted them as outlets for low-priced luxury items. Videos claimed that items on these marketplaces are manufactured for Western brands like Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Lululemon but have not yet been branded and thus can be purchased at an extreme markdown.

One possible  is “to stress that the US is more dependent on China than it may realize.â€� But the factual claims these accounts make are highly suspect. Hermès and Lululemon have denied that they  of the manufacturers that posted these videos. Unfortunately, this may not matter. Truth takes the back seat in disinformation operations. These videos seek to conflate China writ large with the CCP, show the party in a favorable light, and suggest that Chinese manufacturing is essential to maintaining Western standards of living.

The strategic impact of this campaign goes even deeper. One US TikTok user, an affiliate partner for DHgate, claimed it was “eye-openingâ€� how much she saved by buying directly from Chinese suppliers. These TikTok videos are about more than PRC-based suppliers attempting to evade US tariffs. Their message is perfectly in line with Beijing’s narrative that the US is a rapacious and capitalistic exploiter while China is an altruistic defender of the global poor. “Seeing how other countries are coming together to try to help American consumers has boosted my morale. . . . Even though [the tariffs are] a negative thing that’s going on in America, I think it’s also pushing us to come together,â€� the TikTok user said in a post that has garnered more than one million views. Similar videos have collectively  over 50 million views on the platform over the past month.

Thanks to TikTok, the CCP can directly interact with and influence US public opinion on Trump’s China policy. Americans who interact with these videos appear to be more open to believing that the CCP is earnestly trying to help them save money. An NCRI study found TikTok use to have a strong correlation with pro-China sentiment and the belief that China has a “great human rights record.� The CCP’s “scaled indoctrination attempts appear to be working,� said NCRI Chief Science Officer Dr. Joel Finkslstein at a March 27 conference on Capitol Hill.

TikTok’s algorithm is essential to this scaled indoctrination. According to NCRI’s findings, TikTok promotes pro-China content regardless of how a user responds to it. Liking anti-CCP videos on TikTok did not result in fewer pro-China videos appearing on users� feeds. “On normal platforms, these metrics of engagement determine what a platform shows you. Not here,� Finkelstein said. A more recent NCRI investigation that a suspicious increase in the visibility of TikTok videos about Chinese manufacturers coincided with a Chinese Ministry of Commerce campaign to promote “major consumption� to foreigners.

Under the deal that Vance and Waltz negotiated, ByteDance would retain control over the TikTok algorithm. The CCP could therefore continue to use the platform to shape the ways US voters perceive their nation’s foremost adversary amid a major trade war. To blunt Beijing’s most powerful psychological warfare platform, Trump should consider enforcing the law that requires Apple, Google, and other tech companies to de-platform apps controlled by foreign adversaries.

How TikTok Legislation Can Help America Fight Back 

The , which President Joe Biden signed into law on April 24, 2024, prohibits entities like Apple, Google, and Oracle from platforming or providing web services to TikTok as long as the app remains controlled by a foreign adversary. The penalty is substantial at $5,000 per violation. 

The act determines that a company is under foreign adversary control if it meets one of three criteria:

1. Location: The company in question is domiciled in or organized under the laws of a foreign adversary country.¹
2. Ownership: A person or entity located in a foreign adversary country owns at least a 20 percent stake in the company in question.
3. Control: The company in question is subject to the direction or control of a foreign person or entity described above.

TikTok meets each of these conditions. Its parent company ByteDance is domiciled in the PRC and is obligated under several laws to comply with the CCP’s requests.² According to  submitted to the Australian Senate Select Committee on Foreign Interference through Social Media, “all customer data held by China-controlled companies will be accessible to the party’s security services.â€� Relatedly, ByteDance has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Ministry of Public Security and has integrated PRC law enforcement into its platforms for censorship purposes. The company also maintains an  for Chinese Communist Party officials for the purpose of aligning TikTok’s algorithm with Xi Jinping Thought and socialist core values.

Moreover, TikTok is wholly owned by TikTok Ltd., an entity incorporated in the Cayman Islands. This company is in turn owned by ByteDance, which is headquartered in the PRC. Most importantly, it is clear that ByteDance exercises control over TikTok. According to  from anonymous TikTok employees in 2024, ByteDance executives make key strategy and personnel decisions, rather than TikTok Chief Executive Officer Shou Chew.

Congress also established a process by which adversary-controlled applications can be reinstated in the US. This process, a “qualified divestiture,� requires the president to make two determinations, which are then subject to an interagency process:

1. Divestiture: A divestiture has taken place such that the company in question is no longer a foreign adversary controlled application.
2. Algorithm and data: The former parent company has no maintenance or operational relationship with the company in question. This explicitly precludes ByteDance from operating TikTok’s algorithm and participating in a data sharing arrangement.

Ending Foreign Exploitation

Based on public reporting, the deal the Trump administration has negotiated fails to meet the law’s standard for a qualified divestiture. More fundamentally, though, the deal allows the CCP to continue manipulating and exploiting Americans. In a zero-sum trade war, CCP propaganda reduces popular support for White House policies that would hold the CCP accountable for exploiting Americans. Xi is counting on this outcome. TikTok is his highway to the screens of roughly half of the US population. It transforms smartphones into CCP propaganda bullhorns in the pockets of millions of Americans.

Trump has no similar avenue to reach the Chinese people. The lack of reciprocity is just one example of the one-sided relationship that the CCP has cultivated and exploited for decades. Trump has rightly criticized this arrangement. But if he is serious about waging and winning a trade war with Beijing, he will need all the leverage he can get. Washington will not prevail against Beijing while TikTok remains under the CCP’s control.