China systematically restricts foreign companies to the point that mainly only companies with strong connections with and support from foreign governments are allowed access to Chinese markets. I was surprised that retaliation to these policies wasn't happening fifteen years ago, but past presidents didn't want to rock the boat with US companies already doing business there. It's pretty clear that most of the people objecting to this don't have the slightest clue of what's really going on.
Many of us do understand what's happening, but this is a personal grudge, nothing more.
While you say what you did, how many products in your home now are currently assembled completely or in part in China? 99.99999999% of us are funding Chinese corporation and their government through our purchasing habits. China's anti-competitive policies are nothing new, yet our dependence on them has only grown, not shrunk. I live in SEA, and even products made in local countries are made at Chinese-owned and operated factories. The reality of supply chains is that we are beholden to China for our day-to-day lives, and it's because we tacitly endorse these repressive policies by continuing to buy shit they make.
While I have no issue restricting dangerous apps that are security hazards, TikTok ranks among the lowest of them. Our own American apps have been responsible for more ill use of personal data than any Chinese firm. Facebook, and Twitter has sabotaged the US public more than any grandmas dancing on TikTok have. I'd sooner we ban those 2 apps than TikTok, because who the hell even uses TikTok? Ban it for government employees and contractors. That snuffs out the security risk right there. Banning an app that is largely used by young people makes little to no sense. Banning transactions with WeChat doesn't feel like it actually resolves any latent security problems either. Chinese hackers were attacking government systems long before TikTok came about.
This sets a dangerous precedent, where the ability to ban business products on fabricated national emergencies opens the door for a smarter and more vile administration to establish the very kind of government we abhor in China. This is an authoritarian move. This stuff should be enforced by the legislative branch at the behest of security agencies or the justice department. This isn't the decision for one man who's shown an inability to grasp politics in general, much less the intricacies of technology, to make. By painting this as a means of defending ourselves against China, we end up becoming more and more like China. So glad I left the country. What a shitshow.