China’s message on Nvidia: We have leverage too

With TikTok deal getting closer, Beijing signals it wants a further deal over U.S. technology

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With TikTok deal getting closer, Beijing signals it wants a further deal over U.S. technology

The U.S. and China are close to wrapping up a deal to keep TikTok running in the U.S. Beijing is signaling it wants a second deal on technology—and will play hardball with the most valuable American company to get it.

The first deal is poised to give each side something it wants. President Trump, who has said he thinks TikTok may have helped get him elected, will please his young supporters who are devoted to the video-sharing app. And American businesses are set to get a stake in the U.S. TikTok business.

China, for its part, is angling for a Trump visit to Beijing and now seems a step closer to getting it. If it happens, Chinese leader Xi Jinping, fresh from an extravagant military parade in Beijing where he was surrounded by the likes of Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, would be able to show his people that even the American president wants to come to China.

But for all their symbolism, neither a Trump-Xi meeting nor a TikTok deal gets to the heart of the U.S.-China economic relationship. The U.S. is still imposing tariffs of at least 30% and sometimes much more on most Chinese goods, and it is restricting China from accessing some of the most critical artificial-intelligence and semiconductor technology.