On Friday, US President Donald Trump announced a 75-day extension for the deadline to either sell or ban TikTok. The original deadline, set for April 5, 2025, was postponed after Trump delayed the video app’s shutdown in January.
The Trump administration was on the verge of finalizing a deal with TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance. However, US tariffs on China have hindered progress on the agreement, CNN reported, citing a source familiar with the negotiations.
New Executive Order
Trump also signed an executive order to extend TikTok’s operations for an additional 75 days, stating that the deal still requires further work.
“My Administration has been working very hard on a Deal to SAVE TIKTOK, and we have made tremendous progress. The Deal requires more work to ensure all necessary approvals are signed, which is why I am signing an Executive Order to keep TikTok up and running for an additional 75 days,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Deal Negotiations
Trump indicated that the US is willing to continue negotiations with ByteDance to finalize a TikTok deal.
“We hope to continue working in Good Faith with China, who I understand are not very happy about our Reciprocal Tariffs,” Trump wrote on Social Truth. He added: “We do not want TikTok to “go dark.” We look forward to working with TikTok and China to close the Deal.”
TikTok Ban Law
On January 19, 2025, TikTok went dark in the US after the Supreme Court unanimously upheld a law that bans the popular video app in the country unless its parent company sells the US version to an approved buyer. The ban law cited national security concerns and got bipartisan support.
However, Trump gave TikTok a lifeline by signing an executive order that delays the enforcement of the ban by 75 days, expiring on April 5, 2025.
Potential Deal
On Wednesday, the TikTok deal was close to conclusion, with Trump expected to sign an executive order for official approval later this week, according to the source familiar with the deal.
Under the deal, finishing financing and paperwork would take 120 days. The company that would take control of the app’s US operations would involve an investment by a number of venture capital and private equity funds as well as tech giants, with ByteDance keeping a 20% stake in that company, the source added.
The deal had the agreement of US TikTok investors, ByteDance and the Trump administration. However, the new tariffs imposed on China changed that.
Trump’s Tariffs
On Wednesday, Trump announced an additional 34% tariff on China, the US second top exporter, bringing the total tariffs to 54%. In response, Beijing opposed the new tariffs and vowed countermeasures, saying that “there are no winners in trade wars and tariff wars.”
After the tariffs announcement, ByteDance representatives informed the US on Thursday morning that China was pulling out of the deal until negotiations regarding the tariffs take place.
On Friday, a ByteDance spokesperson said in a statement that the company “has been in discussion with the US government regarding a potential solution for TikTok US.”
But the spokesperson said that they had not finalized the agreement because “there are key matters to be resolved. Any agreement will be subject to approval under Chinese law,” he said.
