"Americans deserve to see our exciting Inauguration on Monday, as well as other events and conversations," [Trump] wrote. "I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture. By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to say up. Without U.S. approval, there is no Tik Tok. With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars - maybe trillions."

Hopefully ByteDance doesn't get strong-armed into 50% US ownership. That would be, like, the most awkward divorced parents situation ever

[–] queermunist@lemmy.ml 40 points 1 month ago (7 children)

I don't know how they can get strong armed, they're clearly willing to call the USs bluff and get banned. What other leverage is there?

[–] xiaohongshu@hexbear.net 27 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (5 children)

The key here is the joint venture, because it opens up the possibility for a US-China joint venture inside China as well.

Read my comment here in the news mega for how the US can potentially play this game.

If the US says you share your TikTok algorithm with us, and you let Meta inside China and we share some of our AI technology with you and lift the other AI restrictions Biden has put into place, will you take it?

If the US says what if Meta/some US tech companies invest $100 billion into China to help boost your domestic consumption, will you take it?

If the US says, we will cut the Fed rates further in 2025 to help alleviate your local government debt burden, will you take it?

In other words, the stick is mutually assured destruction - if you don’t want to play ball, I’ll make the situation so much worse for both of us. The carrot is you give us some of what we want and we promise not to further our threats, and we both come out of this with our respective PR wins. You have 1.4 billion of people to take care of, think about them.

It’s a classic dilemma of “saving your economy” and “preserving or giving up parts of your sovereignty” for China. There are going to be red lines, and there are going to be compromises. All the tariffs, sanctions and bans set the initial conditions for negotiations that can then be bargained down to a point where both sides are satisfied with.

[–] dustcommie@hexbear.net 10 points 1 month ago

Is TikTok and US AI tech really seen as real leverage? They seem more like distractions and spectacle. Tarrif's, sanctions, the fed etc I could see making significant compromises but I don't really know enough about the situation and what their analysis of how much the economy would be helped etc.

I thought Meta was out of China because they didn't want to follow Chinese law so got kicked out, would they really change the laws for Meta? (Maybe Meta has changed its mind and would rather be in China than not)

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