"It's a mess": A deep dive into the TikTok ban 🚫

Just hours before the U.S. TikTok ban is set to go into effect, I talked to noted China expert

Bill Bishop

, who writes the invaluable

Sinocism

Substack, about the past, present and future of U.S. China relations.

Candidly, I learned a TON from the conversation including:

• ByteDance, which owns TikTok, has no “Plan B.”

• China believes the controversy in the U.S. over the TikTok ban is proof that their approach to the Internet is, well, better

• Elon Musk, who is pro China, is a wildcard in how Donald Trump deals with the country

• China didn’t really care who won the election because they assume their relations with the U.S. will get worse no matter who is in power

• Trump’s volatility makes China nervous, which may or may not be a good thing.

You can watch the whole conversation for FREE above. You should! And you should also subscribe to

Sinocism

because there is no more important and uncertain relationship right now in the world than the U.S. and China. And no one who knows China better than

Bill Bishop

.

Thanks to

Steve Gillmor

,

Tom Kudla

,

Gordon Hensley

,

Jeremy Goldkorn

,

Jodie Ray

, and many others for tuning in. I am going to be doing a LOT more of these sorts of conversations so download the Substack app so you can watch them live!

If you have not subscribed — as a free or paid member — to “So What,” I hope today is the day you join us.