Morning AF 6/25/2025

The United States Is About to Be in Business With the Chinese Communist Party — Whether We Like It or Not

By Michael Popok

How do we feel about being in business with the Chinese Communist Party?

Because that is precisely where we are heading.

In the most recent announcement from the Trump administration, Donald Trump has granted TikTok yet another extension—ninety more days to resolve its obligation to divest from its Chinese parent company. This is not the first delay. It follows two prior 90-day extensions, all contrary to what Congress required and what the Supreme Court upheld. These delays are not based on free market principles. They are a deliberate circumvention of national security concerns acknowledged by both legislative and judicial branches.

The solution, in Trump’s view, is to allow TikTok to continue operating with a proposed structural shift that mimics a recent arrangement with Japan. We saw this model emerge just two days ago when Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick negotiated the terms of a $14.9 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel by Nippon Steel of Japan. That deal included what has been dubbed a “golden share”—a governance mechanism that places the U.S. government at the table, with oversight and decision-making powers over a now Japanese-owned steel company.

This is the blueprint. The administration is preparing to apply the same model to TikTok.

Let us be clear: TikTok is not merely an entertainment platform. It is a data collection operation embedded in millions of American devices. The platform extracts algorithmic and biometric data—deeply personal information—with a breadth and sophistication that amounts to a surveillance tool. Under Chinese law, any Chinese-owned company must turn over such data to the government upon request. There is no meaningful distinction between civilian and military operations in China. Commercial data is, by law and design, available to the state.

Congress recognized this threat. It passed legislation requiring TikTok to sever ties with its Chinese ownership. The Supreme Court, by a wide margin, upheld the constitutionality of that mandate. Yet, Donald Trump has ignored it. His administration continues to delay enforcement under the guise of negotiation. The result is a looming announcement that will likely position the United States as a co-owner of TikTok—through a “golden share” arrangement—without meaningfully removing the influence or access of the Chinese government.

This is not a hypothetical concern. The data TikTok collects—facial scans, voice prints, behavioral patterns—feeds directly into China's AI and military infrastructure. This is not a company operating independently within a global marketplace. It is an extension of a state apparatus that explicitly seeks strategic dominance over the United States and its allies.

And yet, the Trump administration appears poised to formalize an arrangement that leaves this Trojan horse intact.

The precedent set by the U.S. Steel acquisition—a forced partnership between the U.S. government and a foreign-controlled entity—will now be exported to the tech sector, with consequences far more profound. While U.S. Steel represents industrial capacity, TikTok represents information dominance.

The American people should not be conscripted into digital partnership with a hostile foreign government. National security must not be subordinated to social media popularity or political expediency. We cannot dance our way into surveillance.

The threat is real. The response must be serious.