TikTok CEO Shou Chew is expected to accept an invitation from the newly elected president Donald Trump to attend his inauguration.
Chew will sit front and center on stage, along with other VIP guests and fellow tech executives Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Elon Muskaccording to a report from The New York Times.
The January 20 inauguration will take place a day after TikTok plans to cease operations in the US
Trump is now considering an executive order to suspend enforcement of the law requiring TikTok to divest from China’s ByteDance or face a 60- to 90-day ban in the US, according to the Washington Post, to buy time to negotiate a sale or something similar. other solution.
Trump’s defense of TikTok marks a reversal from his position in 2020, when he tried to block the video-sharing app in the US and force its sale to an American company.
TRUMP SAYS TIKTOK’S FATE MUST BE IN HIS HANDS WHEN HE RETURNS TO THE WHITE HOUSE
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testifies before the House Energy and Commerce Committee at the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill on March 23, 2023 in Washington, DC. The hearing was a rare opportunity for lawmakers to question the leader of the short video social media app about the company’s relationship with its Chinese owner, ByteDance, and how they handle users’ sensitive personal data. (Getty Images)
“I have a warm place in my heart for TikTok,” Trump said last month. The next president has more than 14 million followers on the app. He met with company executives at Mar-a-Lago last month.
In a broad, bipartisan move, Congress passed a law last year implementing the ban-or-sell policy, arguing that the CCP uses the app to spy on Americans and spread propaganda, and ByteDance has long said TikTok is not for sale is.
Reports have emerged of US billionaires such as Elon Musk and Kevin O’Leary lining up to make offers on TikTok’s US operations.
TRUMP ORGANIZES A MEETING WITH PUTIN, IN COMMUNICATION WITH XI
Last week the The Supreme Court considered a challenge to the law which comes into effect on January 19. No decision has been made yet, but it is expected that the law will pass. If the court upholds the law — as a lower court did last month — TikTok’s days in the US could be numbered.
Trump could do that too pushing Congress to repeal the law or direct its Justice Department not to enforce it. His nominee for attorney general, Pam Bondi, declined to say during a confirmation hearing this week whether she would enforce the ban.
Former President Donald Trump leads a Republican National Committee donor retreat in Palm Beach, Florida, on May 4, 2024. (Donald Trump 2024 Campaign)
People take their seats as a rehearsal begins on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol ahead of the upcoming inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, in Washington. ((AP photo))
Trump surprised observers of American foreign policy last month when he invited the president Xi Jinping until his inauguration, although Xi is not expected to attend the inauguration.
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Despite chronic hacking by the Chinese, Trump appears to be striking a diplomatic tone towards Xi and his administration, keeping them alert to Trump’s long-standing promise to impose tariffs as high as 60% on their exports to the US.
“We have a good relationship with China. I have a good relationship,” Trump told CNBC last month. “We have spoken and discussed a number of things with President Xi.”
