I understand, and also support, the ban on TikTok in the U.S., but not for political reasons, but because of free and fair trade reasons. Did you know that China currently bans every American social media company? Facebook, Youtube, WhatsApp, X, Instagram, and more are all entirely banned in China. All of these services are not allowed in China. Some have been banned now for years, even a decade.
Yep, the Americans have been losing badly on this trade. What I mean is, China can sell to us, but we can’t sell to them.
With fair trade in mind, you can see how this creates an imbalance between two countries, and for that reason alone, no one should dispute a ban on TikTok at this time.
More critically, it creates trade asymmetry that allows companies from China to benefit from access to lucrative U.S. markets while American firms are denied similar opportunities in China. This is an imbalance no matter how you cut it. It’s unfair to the U.S. and it runs counter to the principles of open international trade, where mutual access and opportunity should prevail so both countries can transact freely.
In some ways, I am surprised I even need to write this post as it’s common sense to not trade with someone who will not offer similar trade opportunities in return to you. Unless you enjoy being ripped off.
If I meet someone who wants to trade with me, and they say, “Hey, I want to sell you bananas” and I say “Yes! But in return, I want to sell you oranges” and they deny this proposition, but still want to sell me bananas, well, I would go find someone else who wishes to do equal trade with me so that we can both succeed selling our bananas and oranges together. This is not a hard mental model to work through.
Why work with someone who refuses to trade alongside you? That just makes no sense.