> banning superior foreign products and services mean that people have to use inferior local substitutes.

TikTok is only superior in poisoning the minds of people using it here in US. That's why the Chinese version is different. I think zero is lost if people use the inferior local ones in this case.

> This logic is "they make themselves worse off, so we should match them". That is lose-lose scenario logic.

Sure, the optimal solution for the prisoner's dilemma is that both cooperate. But once one doesn't cooperate, the optimal solution is not to cooperate. US looks like a dummy waving the flag of morality while China laughs in its face.