A diplomatic and judicial fight.
China established a mechanism on Saturday allowing it to restrict the activities of foreign companies the day after Washington announced the ban on downloading TikTok and WeChat from Sunday, further escalation in the standoff with Beijing over the comes out of both applications.
China's list of "untrusted entities" - whose names of foreign companies targeted have not been made public - includes potential sanctions ranging from fines to restriction of activities or entry of equipment and personnel into China.
TikTok for its part asked an American judge to block the ban on downloading, ensuring that the maximum guarantees are presented to respect the security and privacy of American users.
The administration's decision was taken "for political reasons" and not because of any threat to the security of the country, say TikTok and its parent company in a complaint filed late Friday in a court in Washington.
And if the download ban is maintained, it will "irreversibly" destroy TikTok's activity in the United States, where the application has 100 million members, the complaint warns.
TikTok accused of industrial espionage on behalf of Beijing
Washington, however, left a door open for TikTok, an application very popular with young people to produce short videos, leaving it until November 12 before completely banning it from operating on its soil.
Its current users will simply no longer be able to update.
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Tensions between the two economic giants have been growing since August when the host of the White House issued an ultimatum to TikTok, which he accuses of industrial espionage on behalf of Beijing, without however having returned tangible public evidence.
He gave ByteDance until September 20, ie Sunday, to sell his TikTok activities on American soil to a company "made in US".
But the negotiations have still not been concluded.
"So we have excellent options"
A first project involving Microsoft and the distribution giant Walmart was rejected by China last weekend.
On Monday, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin formalized the name of another potential new partner: Oracle, based in California.
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Some media mention a minority stake (up to 20%, according to CNBC) by Oracle, specializing in software and services for businesses.
The Chinese parent company ByteDance would retain a majority stake.
Supermarket giant Walmart has also made it known that it could be part of the new project.
"So we have excellent options," the US president reacted on Friday.
A U.S. government national security committee is tasked with examining the offer on the table as Republican lawmakers have warned of greenlighting a deal that would leave the company under Chinese control.
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