TikTok CEO Shou Chew is expected to accept an invitation from President-elect Donald Trump to attend his inauguration.
Chew will be seated front and center on the dais with other VIP guests and fellow tech executives Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, according to a report from The New York Times.
The inauguration on January 20 will come one day after TikTok plans to shut down operations within the U.S.
Trump is now considering an executive order to suspend enforcement of the law requiring TikTok to divest from Chinese-owned ByteDance or face a ban in the U.S. for 60 to 90 days, according to the Washington Post, to buy time to negotiate a sale or some other solution.
Trump’s defense of TikTok marks a reversal from his position in 2020, when he tried to block the video-sharing app in the U.S. and force its sale to a U.S. company.
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“I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok,” Trump said last month. The incoming president has more than 14 million followers on the app. He met with the company’s executives in Mar-a-Lago last month.
In wide, bipartisan fashion, Congress passed a law last year implementing the ban-or-sale policy, arguing the CCP uses the app to spy on Americans and spread propaganda, and ByteDance has long said TikTok is not for sale.
Reports have emerged of U.S. billionaires like Elon Musk and Kevin O’Leary lining up to put in offers on TikTok’s U.S. operations.
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Last week, the Supreme Court considered a challenge to the law that will take effect on January 19. It has not yet issued a decision but is expected to allow the law to go forward. If the court upholds the law — as a lower court did last month — TikTok’s days in the U.S. would be numbered.
Trump could also push Congress to repeal the law, or direct his Department of Justice not to enforce it. His attorney general nominee Pam Bondi declined to say whether she would enforce the ban during a confirmation hearing this week.
Trump took U.S. foreign policy watchers by surprise last month when he invited President Xi Jinping to his inauguration, though Xi is not expected to attend the inauguration.
Despite chronic hacking by the Chinese, Trump seems to be coming in with a diplomatic tone toward Xi and his government, keeping them on their toes about Trump’s longtime promise to institute tariffs as high as 60% on their exports to the U.S.
“We have a good relationship with China. I have a good relationship,” Trump told CNBC last month. “We’ve been talking and discussing with President Xi some things.”
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