China-US Trade Wars Tech Impact

Trump Gives China Based Tik Tok 90 days to Divest US Asset

Source:  Global Trade Image 

Source:  White House 

Intensifying US-China Trade War Impacting Huge China Tech 

This weekend, President Trump considerably increased the pressure in his trade war with China.  He gave ByteDance, the China-based owner of the short-video app global giant Tik Tok, 90 days to sell or spin off its US assets or be banned from doing business in the US. He cited national security concerns. Tik Tok is used by 100 million Americans. He also has banned transactions with Tencent's WeChat, within 45 days in the US. WeChat has 1.2 billion users globally.

Alibaba in the Cross-hairs

Now, Trump also indicated that he's ready to expand pressure on other China based tech giants like Alibaba from doing business in the US. Trump's rationale is a grave concern for national security and the safety of Americans' personal data on China based social media and technology products.  The Chinese government can legally force China-based companies to turn over the personal data that they've collected.

Widening Technology Battles

Concerning Tik Tok, tech giant Microsoft is working to finalize an acquisition of US, Canada, Australian and other Tik Tok assets that it is interested in acquiring by mid-September.  Reports indicate that Twitter is exploring an acquisition of the US Tik Tok assets.  Either asset sale could keep Tik Tok up and running for the millions of Americans, particularly Asian-Americans, who use the app to keep in touch with family.  The US threat against Alibaba brings the trade war to a whole new level.  

Alibaba

Alibaba is a technology behemoth with $72 billion in revenues in the past year.  It's a global e-commerce, consumer electronics, internet and technology giant.   It has an on-line US retail sales platform operational in the US.  President Trump is clearly tightening the screws on China's biggest tech companies to make the Chinese government more amenable to negotiating a new trade deal with the US.  Stay tuned on a trade war that directly impacts personal technology.