>the American company is not able to operate in or make money from the Chinese market, while the Chinese company is currently has free reign to make money in the American one

I think this is our disconnect. I don't care if some random American company can't make money in China. Nor do I care if a legitimate application that happened to be developed in China is able to make money in America. Why should I care?

And assuming I use that application or website, why should I be the one to be punished? Just so some other company can gain some market segment? The context here isn't war or something else severe like that, my point is and has been only in the strict context of legitimate websites and applications (i.e. they aren't breaking American laws, they aren't siphoning American data, etc.).

But hey, maybe this is why I'm not a foreign policy expert and instead I'm just some guy on the internet, enjoying what people all over the world have developed and hoping that my government doesn't ban them because of spite.

> I think this is our disconnect. I don't care if some random American company can't make money in China. Nor do I care if a legitimate application that happened to be developed in China is able to make money in America. Why should I care?

You or I might not care personally about the specific case, but I was speaking from the perspective of the government. They certainly care because they have responsibilities for the economy. I care too, indirectly, because I have interest in the economy doing well (e.g. if Facebook hires a bunch of American developers because they're making bank in China, that's a better for me because the increased demand makes some things a little better for me).

But the trade/economics thing here is a distant second to the national security concerns at play. It's significant that TikTok is under the control of a geopolitical rival, not an ally.

> I care too, indirectly, because I have interest in the economy doing well (e.g. if Facebook hires a bunch of American developers because they're making bank in China, that's a better for me because the increased demand makes some things a little better for me).

Valid point, although I still think that banning a non-related, legitimate application that is used by Americans is a poor way of approaching the issue. But I concede that there is more variables at play than I had in my head during my initial comment.

>It's significant that TikTok is under the control of a geopolitical rival, not an ally.

I never disagreed with this point, and tried to make that clear in my initial comment where I specifically used the mass harvesting of biometric data as an example of a reason I would consider legitimate.