watch
now
Florida
Gov.
Ron
DeSantis
told
CNBC
that
he
would
likely
ban
TikTok
if
given
the
opportunity
because
the
social
media
app
is
owned
by
a
Chinese
company.
“I
do
think
it
represents
a
threat
to
our
country
given
China’s
ownership
of
it,”
DeSantis
told
CNBC’s
Brian
Sullivan
in
an
interview
that
aired
Monday
on
“Last
Call,”
when
he
was
asked
if
he
would
ban
the
social
media
service.
DeSantis,
who
trails
Donald
Trump
in
the
race
to
become
the
2024
Republican
presidential
nominee,
was
broadly
critical
of
U.S.
policy
toward
China
in
the
interview.
He
said
the
U.S.
may
need
to
look
to
regulatory
and
tax
policies
that
can
favor
domestic
businesses
to
incentivize
them
to
focus
on
the
domestic
economy.
“There’s
a
reason
why
stuff
has
been
outsourced
to
China,
because
it
can
be
done
cheaper
and
people
can
make
more
money,”
DeSantis
said.
“We’re
in
a
predicament
here.”
TikTok
has
been
a
political
hot-button
issue
in
Washington
dating
back
to
the
Trump
administration,
which
threatened
to
ban
the
app
but
never
followed
through
with
action.
More
recently,
Congress
introduced
new
bills
earlier
this
year
that
would
allow
the
Biden
administration
to
ban
TikTok.
DeSantis
referred
to
the
bills
as
“too
heavy-handed,”
claiming
they
would
“invade
peoples’
privacy,”
but
he
said
he
would
still
probably
support
a
ban.
“The
United
States
has
been
the
No.
1
source
of
Chinese
wealth,
and
what
have
they
done
with
that
wealth?
They’ve
built
up
their
military,”
DeSantis
said.
“They
are
the
top
threat
to
this
country.”
