Trump Willing to Trade Billions in Tariffs for SHOCKING TikTok Deal—Whaaaa?!

Donnie Politics just pulled a “Did I say that? I don’t remember saying that” move as he is now apparently willing to reduce tariffs on China in exchange for getting Beijing’s blessing on a TikTok sale to an American company. Yes, you heard it here, friends. Our boy Teflon Don, who tried to ban TikTok outright, has now decided the app is so crucial to America’s future that he’s willing to hand China a tariff discount just to get a deal done. Bigly. 

(Source: Giphy) 

In short, Trump, fresh off announcing a 25% tariff on auto imports, casually mentioned that he might cut China a break on some of its 20% tariffs if that’s what it takes to get ByteDance to hand over TikTok’s U.S. operations to an American buyer. His logic is simple: "Every point in tariffs is worth more than TikTok." Which is a bold claim considering tariffs are literally worth billions and TikTok is, well… a place where teenagers make thirst traps and conspiracy theory videos.

However, China isn’t exactly jumping at the chance to sell off one of its biggest global tech successes just to get a slight reduction in tariffs that Trump imposed in the first place. Josef Gregory Mahoney, a professor of international relations in Shanghai, put it bluntly: If China agrees to this, it sets a horrible precedent. Imagine telling every major Chinese company, “Hey, we can just hold your U.S. business hostage and shake you down for trade concessions,” and expect them to just roll with it. Translation: Yes. 

(Source: Bloomberg) 

Now with that said, Beijing has already criticized another major foreign asset sale—CK Hutchison’s plan to offload its Panama ports. So there’s a good chance they’ll tell Trump to shove it rather than let this deal go through. On the other hand, Trump says he’s negotiating with four potential buyers, but he’s keeping those names under wraps like they’re the nuclear codes. What we know right now is that Frank McCourt & Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian are leading one bid, while Tech entrepreneur Jesse Tinsley & YouTube star MrBeast are interested as well. 

Additionally, there’s a merger offer from Perplexity AI that really doesn’t make sense in the first place—and then, there’s Oracle—which has been lurking in the shadows since the last time TikTok was on the chopping block. The problem though, is that any deal would still need approval from China, ByteDance, and Trump. And if the deal includes letting ByteDance keep TikTok’s algorithm, that might make Beijing happy but wouldn’t satisfy the U.S. divestiture law.

So yeah, bottom line this is all a mess (but we already knew that). Trump wants TikTok sold, but he also wants China to agree, so now he’s dangling tariff cuts as a bargaining chip—which is kind of like offering your landlord half the rent in exchange for letting you redecorate their house. 

But, but, but… China has zero incentive to just hand over TikTok to the U.S. for a discount on tariffs that they didn’t want in the first place. Meaning, even if a deal gets done, it’s not clear it would even comply with the law. Translation: Expect more delays, more chaos, and probably another last-minute extension on the books. Because if we’ve learned anything, it’s that nothing in Washington ever ends when it’s supposed to. For now though, keep your eyes on auto stocks, place your bets accordingly, and of course, keep an eye out for Trump’s next sound-bite. As always, stay safe and stay frosty, friends! Until next time… 

P.S. Just when you thought our beloved congressmen couldn’t get any greasier, one Republican lawmaker decided to YOLO $175k into a stock… right before a major FDIC announcement hit. Lucky timing? Insider edge? You be the judge. We broke it all down inside our recent Stocks.News premium article… click here to check it out ASAP. 

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