White House trade advisor Peter Navarro dubbed TikTok’s new CEO Kevin Mayer, an “American puppet” for working at the Chinese-owned social media app.
In an interview with Fox Business on Sunday, Navarro also doubled down on accusations that Chinese apps are gathering data on Americans and handing that over to Beijing. He also said to expect “strong action” from President Donald Trump on TikTok and other Chinese apps.
TikTok has been in the crosshairs of Washington for some months. But pressure on TikTok, which is owned by Beijing-based Bytedance, rose last week when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the government is “looking at” banning the viral app.
The Trump administration maintains that TikTok and other Chinese apps gather lots of data from American users and send it back to China, accusations repeated by Navarro.
“What the American people have to understand is all the data that goes into those mobile apps that kids have so much fun with and seem so convenient, it goes right to servers in China, right to the Chinese military, the Chinese Communist Party, and the agencies that want to steal our intellectual property,” Navarro told Fox.
CBNC
