The TikTok ban has been extended by 75 days by the present USA administration, President Donald Trump. Trump said that he is issuing an executive order to give himself more time to complete a deal in an article on Truth Social on Friday. Just one day prior to the ban being supposed to take effect, the news was made.
“We have made tremendous progress on a deal to save TikTok, which my administration has been working very hard on,” Trump wrote. “I am signing an Executive Order to keep TikTok operational for an additional 75 days because the Deal needs more work to ensure all required approvals are signed.”
With today’s news, Trump has now delayed the TikTok ban deadline twice. According to a bill signed by outgoing President Joe Biden last year, ByteDance had until January 19 to sell TikTok’s U.S. business. On the inaugural day in office, Trump did, however, issue an executive order giving the corporation an additional seventy-five days to reach an agreement.
TikTok was momentarily pulled offline and deleted from the Google and Apple app stores prior to the executive order being signed, but it was later brought back up.
An article on Bloomberg, on Wednesday says Trump looked over a proposal from a group of American investors that included Oracle, Blackstone, and Andreessen Horowitz. According to reports, the idea is a strong candidate for a possible agreement. Amazon, Perplexity, Walmart, AppLovin, the Project Liberty consortium led by billionaire Frank McCourt, and others are also interested.
It’s important to remember that before any agreement can be concluded, the Chinese government must authorize it. As mandated by the TikTok prohibition law, ByteDance has also expressed no interest in selling the social network or lowering its ownership position.
This action was taken just days after Trump declared sweeping tariffs, imposing a 34% tax rate on China. Trump has hinted that in order to help negotiate a TikTok agreement, he would lower tariffs on China.
Trump wrote: “We want to continue working in Good Faith with China, who understand that they are not very happy regarding the Reciprocal Tariffs (Necessary for Fair and Balanced Trade between China and the U.S.A. This demonstrates why tariffs are crucial for Americans national security and the most effective economic instrument available! Not having TikTok “go dark” is what we desire. We are eager to complete the Deal with China and TikTok. He appreciates your consideration of this issue.
In recent days, Trump and Vice President JD Vance, who was assigned to spearhead the TikTok deal making effort, have stated time and again that they anticipate a deal by the deadline of April 5.
According to the person with knowledge of the agreement, a deal was reached on Wednesday, and Trump was scheduled to formally approve it in an executive order later this week. A selection of venture capital firms, private equity firms, and IT heavyweights would have invested in a firm that would have controlled TikTok’s US operations, and the order would have started a 120-day timeframe to complete the deal’s finance and documentation. ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, would have kept 20% of the spinoff business.
ByteDance can only control 20% of the platform in order for the agreement to be legal. Additionally, it says that ByteDance cannot coordinate the app’s algorithm or sharing of data policies with the US operations of the app.
According to the source, the agreement had been approved by ByteDance, the Trump administration, and both new and current US TikTok investors. However, everything changed once Trump declared his intention to impose an extra 34% tax on China. ByteDance officials told the White House early on Thursday that China was withdrawing from the agreement unless the tariffs were negotiated.
Since it was uncertain where the negotiations would go from here, Trump and the White House team negotiating the accord decided on Friday to postpone the execution of the order for a further 75 days.
In his statement on Friday, Trump said more time is required to finish the possible deal but did not provide any information on its progress.
Given Trump’s pledge to postpone the ban further, TikTok’s 170 million American users will probably be able to keep using the well-known short-form video app for some time to come.
However, considering the growing trade war between the US and China, the app’s long-term survival is called into doubt by the delay in striking a formal agreement. There isn’t much public evidence that the Chinese government would consent to a sale.
Trump stated in his tweet, “We do not want TikTok to ‘go dark.'” He added, “We hope to continue working in Good Faith with China, who I understand are not very happy about our Reciprocal Tariffs.”
“We’re excited to work with China and TikTok to close the Deal,” he stated.
An inquiry for comment from TikTok was not immediately answered.
In a rare admission that the corporation is in contact with the White House, a ByteDance representative stated on Friday that the parent company of TikTok “has been in dialogue with the US government concerning an alternative plan for TikTok US.”
“No contract has been signed. There are important issues that need to be addressed. According to Chinese legislation, any arrangement must be approved, the ByteDance representative stated in a statement.
The TikTok extension ban by Trump is in line with the China tariffs derail deal, in which you can read more on this on CNN business blog site.
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