Friedberg: Forcing TikTok equity surrender sets dangerous precedent for US firms abroad
David Friedberg · Trump's First Week: Inauguration Recap, Executive Actions, TikTok, Stargate + Sacks is Back! · Jan 25, 2025 · at 53:36
David Friedberg reacting to proposals for the U.S. government to demand equity from TikTok, arguing it creates severe retaliatory risks for American businesses operating overseas.
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“I do worry a lot about the precedent being set here with respect to foreign government actions on U.S. Companies in their local countries. Imagine the CCP tells Tesla they have to sell their Chinese operations and give 50% of the Chinese operations to the Chinese government. Because of their concerns about security, where Tesla is now able to track Chinese citizens driving around and where they are. And you can see very quickly how this whole kind of overall, I think, presentation of the security risk that we face with TikTok, and therefore we will shut it down or own it, creates, I think, a counter that could really hurt American companies.”
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