China Hawks Hope For Deal After Supreme Court Upholds Law To Ban Tiktok

China hawks in Congress are standing behind their law to force TikTok to divest or be banned in the U.S. after the Supreme Court ruled it constitutional Friday. But they are hopeful the president-elect will cut a deal to avert the app shutting down.

“Hopefully they’ll figure out a way to get it sold,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told POLITICO. Asked whether President-elect Donald Trump should enforce a ban, he said, “I would think so.”

Friday’s decision to uphold the law comes two days before a ban is set to take effect on Jan. 19. However, Trump has vowed “to save” the app and is hosting TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at his inauguration. TikTok is also sponsoring an inauguration partyfor MAGA influencers.

Trump said he spoke to China’s leader Xi Jinping about the issue Friday and expected to “solve many problems together.” He wrote later that “everyone must respect” the Supreme Court decision. “My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to review the situation,” he added. White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden will not enforce the ban that imposes massive fees on platforms that continue to host TikTok.

“Given the sheer fact of timing, this Administration recognizes that actions to implement the law simply must fall to the next Administration, which takes office on Monday,” she said in a statement.

On the Hill, Republicans threaded the needle between support for the law’s aims and openness to a deal that could avert a ban.

“There’s a real national security issue here that I think Congress has made clear after looking at the issue that has to be addressed,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Asked whether the Trump administration has authority to postpone the ban, Rounds told reporters, “They do. They have the power to extend it — I believe the time period is 90 days — if there is a legitimate reason, such as a pending sale. But I would think there would have to be a legitimate reason for that.”

Others gave the incoming administration less wiggle room even as Trump’s nominee for attorney general Pam Bondi refused to commit to enforcing the TikTok law at her confirmation hearing this week. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) told reporters that U.S. app store providers like Google and Apple “need to comply with the law” and stop hosting the app.

Beijing-based ByteDance has said it would not sell TikTok. However, billionaire Frank McCourt said Friday he had a formal offer on the table to buy the app. His offer would not include the underlying algorithm that has made the app so popular with its users — and that Chinese law bars from being exported.

“We are ready to work with the company and President Trump to complete a deal,” McCourt said in a statement. “Together, we can transition TikTok to a clean tech stack and turn this national security problem into a big win for Americans.”

Some Democrats mounted a failed effort this week to get Biden to extend the deadline, including Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) who said he called the president, and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) who proposed to extend the deadline via a bill that fizzled. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) appeared sympathetic to TikTok, telling reporters, “Targeting one company makes no sense. We need a level set of rules for all social media companies.”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told POLITICO on Friday that “it’s more than possible, it’s likely” and “legally should be done” for Biden to still use the extension, even as the law is set to take effect over a weekend and requires him to certify progress on a sale to Congress. He said he previously spoke to Biden officials, making his views known, but that it would be tricky to reach “anyone in the Biden administration on the Friday before the inaugural.”

He also gave a pass to the White House decision to not enforce a ban right away. “I would be fine as long as the requirements of the law are followed,” Blumenthal said. “Some kind of certification or declaration as to the reason that it's not enforced. In other words, not just ad hoc 'we're not going to enforce the law.’”

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told reporters “I think we always expected we might need an extra 90 days,” adding “if there are serious bidders, I hope the ByteDance management will get serious now as well.”

But others in the party sounded a clear note of hostility to the app.

House Energy and Commerce ranking member Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) said, “I urge ByteDance to recognize that it's time to sell TikTok. Spending lavishly to celebrate the President-elect's inauguration, and sending the CEO to sit on the dais does not change federal law or override a unanimous decision by the highest court in the land.”

Pallone and TikTok sparred on X Thursday, with the TikTok team telling Pallone, “you want to silence and censor over 170 million Americans' right to free speech.”

Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio) sounded a tone of frustration at the company saying, “TikTok has no one to blame but themselves for this outcome.”

“No matter how TikTok spins this, it’s clear they cannot or simply refuse to sever ties with the Chinese Communist Party,” he said in a statement. “It should disturb every single American that they chose this path instead of working to divest and keep the app operational in the United States.

One intriguing voice on the TikTok issue was Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Trump’s pick for secretary of State and previously a strong backer of the ban. On Friday, Rubio told reporters, “I hope there’s a deal on the table.”

Asked whether Trump has authority to not enforce the law, Rubio said, “On the 19th, he has 90 days if there's a deal on the table to purchase TikTok” and added, “I don't know what he's going to do. You have to ask them, but I'm just telling what the law is."