Marco Rubio Wants the U.S. to Take a Harder Line on China

Last year, Marco Rubio landed in hot water with his kids over a post he made on Instagram. “Dear Parents,” Rubio wrote under an image of the logo for TikTok, the Chinese-owned social video app, “if you don’t want to donate personal data to China then #DeleteTikTok today.” (TikTok has denied such allegations.) One irritated teen responded “Ok boomer,” but supporters, tagging their children, commented “Delete Now” and “This should have been said a long time ago.” Rubio’s sons, 14 and 12, got flak from classmates after some of their parents made them delete the app.

The attempt to keep America’s youth from sharing their dance moves with a Chinese company was, alas, unsuccessful: TikTok remains wildly popular among U.S. teens. That hasn’t deterred the influential Florida senator from what he says is now a top policy priority: severing economic ties between Beijing and U.S. consumers, companies, and capital markets, a task he argues will be especially urgent in the aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak.