Trump says he will extend TikTok's sell-or-be-banned deadline

Andrea Chang, Los Angeles Times on Apr 4, 2025

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With a deadline to sell itself or be banned in the United States just hours away, TikTok got another last-minute reprieve from President Donald Trump on Friday.

"My Administration has been working very hard on a Deal to SAVE TIKTOK, and we have made tremendous progress," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "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 also said that China was "not very happy" about the steep tariffs he announced this week, which he said were necessary for fair and balanced trade between the two countries.

"This proves that Tariffs are the most powerful Economic tool, and very important to our National Security," he wrote. "We do not want TikTok to 'go dark.' We look forward to working with TikTok and China to close the Deal."

On Friday, China responded to the 34% tariffs imposed by the U.S. by announcing it would impose a 34% tariff on imports of all U.S. products starting Thursday.

The hugely popular social media app has been on shaky ground in the U.S. since 2020, when Trump moved to shut it down during his first term because of national security concerns tied to its Chinese parent company, ByteDance.

ByteDance, he said, could assist the Chinese government by sharing the data it collects from its roughly 170 million American users, embedding malicious software in the app or helping to spread disinformation.

Four years later, President Joe Biden signed a law requiring ByteDance to sell off TikTok's U.S. business or face a nationwide ban.

TikTok responded by suing the U.S. government, saying a ban would violate First Amendment rights and arguing that there was "no support for the idea" that its Chinese ownership posed national security risks.

In January, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld the law, which would make it illegal for app stores such as Apple and Google Play to distribute TikTok or issue updates to the social media app.

A deadline was set for Jan. 19, and the app went dark for a few hours before Trump stepped in, signing an executive order Jan. 20 to keep TikTok operating for 75 days, until April 5.

A bidding war has been playing out behind the scenes for months, involving prospective buyers across several industries including Amazon, former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, Oracle, Microsoft and YouTuber MrBeast.

Trump on Thursday told reporters aboard Air Force One that his administration was "very close to a deal with a very good group of people."

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