China Policy: Taiwan, Trade, TikTok and Foreign Land Ownership

The basics

Trade: On February 20, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled 6 to 3 in Learning Resources v. Trump that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not let the President impose tariffs¹. The ruling covered the tariffs imposed under that law in 2025, not tariffs imposed under other trade laws¹. Separately, the U.S. and China have kept a trade truce in place; on September 23, 2026, the Treasury Secretary said it would be extended from November 10 to January 10, as China's president began a state visit to Washington²¹².

Taiwan: U.S. policy is guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, the One China policy and related agreements, with the stated aim of preventing either side from changing the status quo on its own³. On December 18, 2025, the U.S. announced eight possible arms sales to Taiwan worth about $11.1 billion, including HIMARS rocket systems⁴¹³.

TikTok: A 2024 federal law required TikTok's U.S. operations to be separated from Chinese control or face a ban. The Supreme Court upheld the law on January 17, 2025⁵. On January 22, 2026, a new U.S. joint venture took control of TikTok's U.S. operations; ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese parent, kept 19.9%, and the venture said it would retrain the recommendation algorithm on U.S. user data in Oracle's U.S. cloud⁶¹⁴.

Land: The 2024 Republican platform calls for stopping China from buying American real estate, and the 2024 Democratic platform calls for further limiting foreign ownership of U.S. farmland⁷³. About 28 states have passed some kind of foreign land ownership limit⁸.

Key terms

Tariff

A tax on imported goods, paid by the importer. The Supreme Court ruled in 2026 that one emergency law used for 2025 tariffs does not authorize them¹.

Taiwan Relations Act

A U.S. law that, along with the One China policy, guides unofficial U.S. relations with Taiwan³.

Foreign adversary

A term in federal law, including the 2024 TikTok law, for countries such as China, Iran, North Korea and Russia. Texas SB 17 uses the term designated country instead⁵⁹.

Designated country

Under Texas SB 17, a country named as a national security risk in one of the last three U.S. intelligence threat assessments, or one the governor adds; China, Iran, North Korea and Russia are covered⁸⁹.

In Texas

Senate Bill 17, signed on June 20, 2025, and effective September 1, 2025, bars governments, companies and certain individuals tied to designated countries from buying or acquiring Texas real estate⁹¹⁰. Those restricted include people domiciled in a designated country and citizens of those countries who are in the U.S. unlawfully⁹. U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents are exempt, and people lawfully living in the U.S. may buy a home to live in⁹.

Violations by individuals are a state jail felony, and companies can face a civil penalty of $250,000 or half the property's value, whichever is greater⁹. The governor, after consulting the Department of Public Safety, may add countries or groups to the list⁹.

Chinese citizens living in Texas on visas sued. A federal judge dismissed that case on August 18, 2025, finding they lacked standing because they are domiciled in Texas, not China, and on December 11, 2025, the Fifth Circuit affirmed for the plaintiff who appealed, Peng Wang⁸¹¹. A separate challenge, Huang v. Paxton, was filed in federal court in Austin in September 2025¹⁵.

How people see it

The strongest case for each view, in terms its supporters would recognize. We don't pick a side.

Questions to ask a candidate

• Should Texas keep, expand or narrow its 2025 law on land purchases by people and companies tied to China and other countries?
• Should tariffs on Chinese goods go up, down or stay the same?
• How should the U.S. support Taiwan?
• Is the TikTok joint venture enough to protect U.S. users' data?