US may get its own glitchy version of TikTok if Trump’s deal works out

Could Donald Trump possibly follow through on his campaign promise to save TikTok by finally making a deal that keeps the app operating in the US without compromising America's national security?

Outlook not so good.

Despite The Information reporting that a new version of TikTok is being prepped to launch in the US market this September, even Trump can't be sure the deal is imminent.

"We pretty much have a deal," Trump recently told reporters on Air Force One, suggesting that he thinks he will meet with China's president or another official on "Monday or Tuesday" to float the latest version of his deal. But asked if China was likely to agree to the deal, Trump admitted, "I’m not confident, but I think so."

According to Trump, the deal "is good for China" and the US, but China notably refused a prior deal, seemingly not because the deal wasn't "good" but because Trump's tariff threats derailed talks, CNN reported.

Currently, the US and China have struck a truce, but that doesn't mean either side has backed down from the trade war. And history may repeat itself if Trump continues lobbing threats at China while attempting to ink the deal.

Most recently, Trump announced plans to expand AI chip curbs to crack down on suspected semiconductor smuggling into China and threatened a 10 percent import tax on "any country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of" several countries, including China. The current truce may easily be shaken, as it also left "questions unanswered with regard to fentanyl trafficking and US exporters’ access to Chinese markets," the South China Morning Post reported. All of this suggests that there's much more left to iron out than just the framework for the elusive TikTok deal.

Under a US law, TikTok must be sold or banned in the US by September 17. Trump appears to have been stuck in a tough spot all year, because the final terms of the deal may not allow current owner ByteDance to own more than 20 percent of the platform or maintain any control over TikTok's algorithm or data-sharing practices.

Both ByteDance and China have long been opposed to a forced sale, with the Chinese commerce ministry insisting that China must sign off on any sale that includes TikTok's algorithm, since that would be considered an export of Chinese technology.

To get around needing China's approval, Trump has previously suggested that US owners—a group of "wealthy people" whom Trump said could create a new US entity led by Oracle—could lease the algorithm, NPR reported. But Trump has since indicated that China will have to sign off on the current version of his deal, suggesting that the US may have abandoned the leasing idea after backlash came not just from China but also from within the White House.

On Monday, China did not signal that it's warming to Trump's deal or a potential TikTok sale, CNN reported.

In a statement, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, said that "China has reiterated its principle and position on issues related to TikTok on multiple occasions." That suggests China is holding its ground that any acquisition of TikTok should be governed "independently" by market principles in an "open, fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment" for Chinese businesses.

China seems unlikely to approve the sale that Trump has lined up, Alex Capri, a lecturer at the Business School of the National University of Singapore, told CNN, perhaps mainly because TikTok's algorithm is too valuable.