Elon Musk complains about China ban on X as Donald Trump prepares TikTok reprieve

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Elon Musk took issue with the lack of reciprocity in the US-China technology relationship, a rare rebuke from the billionaire on issues sensitive to Beijing after US President-elect Donald Trump prepared to offer a deadline to ban TikTok in the US.

Musk, who has long sought to maintain close ties with Communist Party officials in China, Tesla’s primary market and production hub for electric cars, has been cautious for years in his statements about Beijing.

But he said on Sunday that “something needs to change” after Trump said he would “probably” extend the deadline for Chinese tech group ByteDance to pull out of TikTok, which faced a ban under a US law that forced it briefly offline.

Musk said that while he opposes banning the short-form video app on freedom of expression grounds, “the current situation where TikTok is allowed to operate in America, but X is not allowed to operate in China, is lopsided.”

“Something needs to change,” he said in a post on X.

Asked about Musk’s comments, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said on Monday that Beijing welcomes any company that abides by its laws and that Chinese groups abroad are obligated to follow local rules.

In response to Trump’s suggestion that TikTok, which began restoring service in the United States on Sunday, be pushed into a joint venture, Mao said Chinese groups should “independently decide” on operations and deals.

Musk’s criticism was mild compared to some of his fierce attacks on Western politicians and recent interventions in the domestic politics of countries such as Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy.

But it highlighted the Tesla CEO’s potential conflict of interest between protecting his business interests in China and serving as a confidant to the incoming president and a government efficiency czar.

Tesla received nearly a quarter of its sales in the third quarter from China, and it also exported more vehicles from its factory in Shanghai to third countries.

Some analysts believe that Beijing is pinning its hopes on Musk as a potential mediator with Trump, who has pledged to increase tariffs on imports from China. Chinese officials had previously discussed using Musk as an intermediary to resolve TikTok’s fate in the United States.

On Sunday, Musk also met with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng, who will represent President Xi Jinping at Trump’s inauguration. The presence of a senior Chinese official like Han is unprecedented at the inauguration of a US president, as Beijing is usually represented by its ambassador in Washington.

“Han met… Elon Musk and welcomed US companies including Tesla to seize opportunities and share the fruits of China’s development,” Xinhua News Agency reported.

Han also met with business leaders from the US-China Business Council and the US Chamber of Commerce on Sunday, as well as Trump’s incoming Vice President J.D. Vance.

The Trump-Vance transition team said in a statement that Hahn and Vance discussed the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl, which successive US administrations have prompted Beijing to crack down on, as well as regional stability and the balance of trade.

American business leaders have sought in the past to play a moderating influence in the often volatile Sino-American relationship, a role that Beijing appears keen to encourage ahead of a second Trump administration.

Han described US business as the “backbone” of relations between the two countries, and urged companies to “play an active role as a bridge” in US-China relations, Xinhua said.