The deadline for the sale of TikTok in the US, which was supposed to be April 5, has been extended by 75 days, according to a post by President Donald Trump on his social media platform Truth Social.
This is the second time that Trump, through an executive order, has extended the deadline for TikTok’s sale to a non-Chinese buyer in the US. According to reports, the deal for TikTok’s sale has been impacted by Trump’s sweeping tariffs, which are 34 per cent for Chinese goods.
Trump, in his post, claims his administration has been working “very hard” on a deal to save TikTok, and that it has made “tremendous progress”. Calling the reciprocal tariffs “important” to US national security, Trump said, “We do not want TikTok to ‘go dark.’ We look forward to working with TikTok and China to close the deal.”
The original date for the sale or ban of TikTok was January 19, 2025, which was extended to April 5 by Trump on his first day in the office. The new deadline now falls in the middle of June. Trump, who was formerly against the popular short-video platform, altered his stance after he found that TikTok boosted and benefitted his electoral campaign.
ByteDance, which owns TikTok, responded to the deadline’s extension by stating that all arrangements will be subject to necessary approvals mandated by Chinese law. “ByteDance has been in discussion with the US government regarding a potential solution for TikTok US. An agreement has not been executed. There are key matters to be resolved.”
TikTok is targeted by a controversial piece of legislation, known as “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act”, which has been the centre of attention since being approved by former president Joe Biden last year. It forces the sale of TikTok’s local operations across the US or the short-video platform will face a permanent ban.
The law was formulated under the pretext of protecting “national security”, for TikTok is a Chinese app, and China is a direct and long-standing adversary to the US. The US intelligence agencies, however, have not yet presented any direct or indirect evidence of the Chinese government weaponising TikTok against the US.
TikTok has around 170 million users in the US.
