Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut Democrat, is counseling President-elect Trump to drop his plan to save TikTok from a looming federal ban on operating in the U.S.

Mr. Trump pursued a ban during his first term as president, but changed his mind during his presidential campaign this year, announcing that he now opposed efforts to restrict the wildly popular China-founded app. 

Congress passed and President Biden signed a conditional ban into law earlier this year, ordering TikTok’s U.S. operation to separate itself from ByteDance, its China-based parent company, or face restrictions in America. Ongoing litigation challenging the law is swirling in federal courts as a potential ban looms early next year. 

Mr. Blumenthal said at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday that lawmakers are determined to see the law enforced, including the conditional ban, regardless of the president-elect’s policy preferences. 

“The law requires the divestment of TikTok’s American operations next year; the president can extend the deadline once, but he can’t ignore the law,” Mr. Blumenthal said. “If he wants to change the law, he can try but I can tell him and tell the American people, the Senate’s pretty strong here in favor of that law.”

Mr. Blumenthal indicated that TikTok is not the only Chinese application in lawmakers’ crosshairs and he advocated for a new tough approach to China from the Congress. 

“We need to radically rethink how we are protecting against Beijing’s spying and influence,” Mr. Blumenthal said.

He said lawmakers’ restrictions on TikTok could also apply to Chinese apps that seek to take TikTok’s place in the American market. 

TikTok did not respond to a request for comment.

• Ryan Lovelace can be reached at rlovelace@washingtontimes.com.