In Congress, China hawks want scrutiny of Trump's TikTok deal

Politico ^ | 09/15/2025 | Anthony Adragna

[fluorescence]

Congressional China hawks said Monday that they’re planning to scrutinize President Donald Trump’s promised deal to keep TikTok alive, insisting his “framework” for an agreement with China has to obey last year’s law to pry the app out of Chinese control.

“Any agreement must comply with the historic bipartisan law passed last year to protect the American people, including the complete divestment of ByteDance control and a fully decoupled algorithm,” a spokesperson for the House China Committee said.

On Monday, President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent teased a “framework” for TikTok’s divestment from Beijing-based parent company ByteDance — though Bessent said Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping would have to agree to terms during a Friday phone call.

A White House official familiar with the negotiations told POLITICO that the deal would reduce ByteDance’s ownership to less than 20 percent, which would comply with the law. The official also said it would completely remove the Chinese Communist Party’s ability to access the user data of American citizens.

“I look forward to reviewing it,” House China Chair John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) told POLITICO on Monday. “We want to have an opportunity to read it, understand it, make sure it’s preserved for Americans under the law … I trust they’re negotiating a good solution.”

“It’s a good idea that Congress passed a law that it’s either going to be done away with in the United States, or it’s going to be owned by an American company,” Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told POLITICO. “I don’t know what the framework says — but anything short of that, the President would be violating congressional intent.”

[Captainpaintball]

Get RID of TikTok. It serves no useful purpose. And has only damaged the country. Charlie Kirk’s murder may not have happened (if you believe the current “official” narrative) without the influence that terrible chinese spy-op had on the morons in this country. TikTok was the number one trans influencer n the internet.