TikTok Struggles to Enlist U.S. Merchants for Shopping Service

As TikTok tries to win over U.S. politicians, it may have kneecapped its shopping service, TikTok Shop.

Relatively few U.S. merchants are showing interest in signing up for the nascent service, both because they’re more focused on expanding in bricks and mortar and because they’re concerned the app could be banned, merchants say.

Overseas sellers, in contrast, are eager for a new way to tap into the world’s second-largest e-commerce market. But TikTok has blocked foreign merchants from selling on the U.S. version of the service.