Without US creators TikTok will be lifeless for US market. The creators will leave nevertheless if majority of the audience can't be reached

So no. VPN won't work

Well.. maybe. On the other hand, when Russian gov tried to ban Telegram, it only got more popular, nobody stopped posting, even government officials continued to use it, grocery chains continued to advertise their support bots, grandparents were asking young people to configure proxies on their phones… the ban was a colossal failure and recently it was unbanned.

A smart business can use this kind of ban for a PR advantage, they can make their app into a symbol of resistance.

they won't be able to monetize so will leave regardless of how many fans (otherwise would have to explain to the IRS receiving money from a chinese app banned in the name of national security)

The content will be different. Most of the content creator will likely leave.

I assume any VPN would do.

Wouldn’t it depend upon where the VPN is hosted?

What it depends upon is not your IP location but in what country your Apple/Google account was said to be made in