timeTake a tough stance on China has been a hallmark of Donald Trump’s political career. But now, just days away from his second administration, he appears to be prioritizing the interests of big business in his China policy, perhaps even to the detriment of U.S. national security.

Of course, it's still early days and Trump's position could change. But the nature of his political alliances seems likely to prevent him from taking a tough stance on China. The corporate titans in his camp — notably Tesla founder Elon Musk — have significant financial interests in China. They could try to use their influence to constrain Trump and China hawks on his team, such as his pick for secretary of state, Marco Rubio, from taking actions that could threaten those investments.

Admittedly, striking the right balance between security and business is tricky. If left unchecked, many U.S. CEOs may sell equipment and technology to China or invest in Chinese companies, which could help Beijing boost its military capabilities and high-tech industries. To prevent this from happening, Washington may end up depriving American companies of harmless opportunities in the world's second-largest economy. President Joe Biden has tried to resolve this dilemma by imposing some restrictions on U.S. companies’ interactions and investments in China, but specifically targeting technologies most important to U.S. security, such as advanced chips and artificial intelligence.

Key Republicans around Trump appear to think the restrictions go too far. Last month, in a last-ditch effort to avert a government shutdown, House Republicans abandoned provisions in a spending bill that would have tightened restrictions on U.S. investment in China. Democratic Representative Jim McGovern claimed that Musk used his influence to undermine the original budget deal in order to eliminate the China provision. McGovern posted on The elimination of this provision clears potential obstacles for U.S. companies that want to expand investment in China.

This decision is part of a pattern. A week later, Trump asked the Supreme Court to halt an impending ban on Chinese social media platform TikTok. Congress has passed a law calling for the ban in 2024 amid concerns that the Chinese government could pressure the app's Beijing-based parent company ByteDance to hand over data it collects on U.S. citizens. The law gave ByteDance a chance to save TikTok by divesting its stake in TikTok, but that never happened. As president in 2020, Trump similarly sought to ban TikTok or force ByteDance to sell the app's U.S. operations. Now, Trump's legal team says shutting down TikTok would violate free speech.

(Read: Is Trump soft on China? )

But the shift may be motivated by less idealistic intentions. Perhaps Trump now sees TikTok as a valuable tool for self-promotion. Even more ominously, Trump's shift toward TikTok (at least publicly) coincided with a meeting he had with a billionaire donor early last year: Jeff Yass, the head of financial firm Susque Co-founder of Susquehanna International Group, which is a shareholder in ByteDance and could suffer losses from the TikTok ban. Trump said the two did not discuss the company.

Democratic Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, a co-author of the TikTok bill, told me he believed the concerns were related to Trump’s change of heart. “My Republican colleagues tell me it’s because one or two donors around him are basically trying to convince him to repeal the law,” Krishnamoorthy said. But he noted that the only way Trump could undo the legislation, where the law was approved with bipartisan support, was "to go back to Congress."

Trump also appears to be downplaying his plans to impose tariffs on China. During his presidential campaign, he promised to impose a 50% tariff on Chinese imports. Shortly after the November election, he changed that rate to 10%, presumably on top of existing tariffs. This cut, if indeed this is Trump's final plan, would be good for the U.S. economy. The extremely high tariffs initially proposed by Trump would wreak havoc on supply chains and raise prices for daily necessities for American households, as the United States still imports large quantities of daily necessities from China. If Trump imposes higher tariffs on other countries that produce low-cost imports, such as Mexico, he may actually help China because U.S. companies will choose to keep manufacturing in China.

Chinese leaders, who have been trying to lure wary U.S. investors back to Beijing's troubled economy, are sure to welcome a softer stance from Washington. Trump, for his part, appears to believe he can work with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. He even invited Xi Jinping to his inauguration (Xi Jinping is not expected to attend, but a high-level envoy may be sent to represent him). Earlier this month, Trump said the two had communicated through aides (China's foreign ministry did not confirm this).

Trump's apparent softening puts U.S. interests at risk. Sino-U.S. relations have continued to deteriorate since Trump left the White House in 2021; Xi Jinping has become more hostile to Washington, and he is unlikely to shake up economic, security and foreign policies aimed at countering U.S. global influence. These include massive government subsidies for Chinese industry and efforts to undermine the current world order. In a recent speech in the Communist Party’s top ideological publication, Xi expressed his disdain for the West in particularly harsh terms: “Many Western countries are finding themselves increasingly in difficulty, in large part because of their inability to contain capital. greedy nature and solve the deep-seated problems of materialism and spiritual emptiness.”

The timing of the speech - two years after Xi Jinping's speech and three weeks before Trump's inauguration - could serve as a warning to the incoming president. This time, Xi Jinping may be more stubborn and willing to retaliate against Trump. He said in his speech: "History has repeatedly proven that seeking security through struggle can bring real security, and seeking security through weakness and concessions will ultimately lead to insecurity."

U.S. tycoons, including Musk, could become targets of Xi Jinping. When Trump imposed tariffs on China during his first administration, Beijing's response was generally limited to tit-for-tat tariffs and restrictions on U.S. imports. Now, the Chinese government is signaling that it may crack down on U.S. companies more aggressively. In December last year, Chinese authorities launched an antitrust investigation into U.S. artificial intelligence chip giant Nvidia. Three months ago, China's Ministry of Commerce threatened to ban PVH, which owns the Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger brands, from doing business in China. The American apparel company has offended Beijing by complying with a U.S. regulation that bans cotton imports from the Xinjiang region, where China allegedly uses forced labor.

(Read: Global outrage machine ignores Uyghurs)

Tesla may well be next. Musk and other business leaders know this and may see it as a reason to pressure Trump to take a lenient approach to China. But what’s good for profits may be bad for national security and undermine America’s technological advantage. The incoming U.S. president, who puts his wealthy backers ahead of national interests, is sure to prove Xi Jinping right about American greed leading to America's decline.