TikTok’s U.S. Future Still in Limbo as Commerce Secretary Visits China

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s visit to China is putting a spotlight on the future of TikTok in the United States, where criticism of the app and its ties to Beijing reached a fever pitch this year.

Despite the intense pressure on the popular short-form video app, which is owned by the Chinese technology company ByteDance, efforts to ban or regulate it in Washington have not yet borne fruit. And even with all that scrutiny, Ms. Raimondo is not planning to discuss TikTok while in China, a glaring omission that reflects the impasse at which it has left the Biden administration.

The administration has been stymied by how to deal with TikTok even as intelligence officials have warned that it poses a national security threat. The app has been barred on government devices federally and in more than two dozen states, its chief executive was grilled before Congress in March and lawmakers have proposed legislation that would make it easier for the White House to ban tech companies owned by “foreign adversaries” like China.

But the White House’s options are limited. Ms. Raimondo memorably told Bloomberg News this year that if the administration banned TikTok, “the politician in me thinks you’re going to literally lose every voter under 35, forever.” (TikTok claims 150 million users in the United States.)

It’s also not clear if a ban would hold up in court. In March, when the Biden administration reportedly considered forcing a sale of TikTok by its Chinese owners, China’s Commerce Ministry quickly said that it opposed a divestment and that the move would undercut foreign investment in the United States.

That has left the United States and TikTok to work out a plan for operating in America that addresses the national security concerns, but those talks have stalled amid growing tensions between the two superpowers.