United States President Donald Trump has extended the deadline for ByteDance, the company behind TikTok to divest the company twice. But now, his advisors believe that the third time’s a charm.
Before he imposed a steep 245% tariff on China, Trump mentioned that he was open to reducing the tariff on the Asian country if they agreed to divest the company to a United States-owned firm. Before the last extension, Trump mentioned that “maybe I’ll give them a little reduction in tariffs or something to get it done, you know because every point in tariffs is worth more money than TikTok.”
Trump administration says TikTok deal is on China’s table
According to White House Press Secretary Karolina Leavitt, “The ball is in China’s court.” In her Tuesday statement, she said that China needs to make a deal with the United States. She added, “We don’t have to make a deal with them … China wants what we have … they need our money.” Leavitt mentioned that VP JD Vance is leading the negotiations and Trump is involved in the discussions.
Vance has been working on a deal along with other advisors in the White House for months now. The deal is coming after a bipartisan law filed by Congress in 2024, which mandated ByteDance to divest the social media app or face a ban on the app in the United States. According to Semafor, White House officials are optimistic about a final deal before the latest deadline of June 19. Another person familiar with the ongoing negotiations stated that the TikTok deal with ByteDance is still on the table for China’s acceptance.
According to another spokesperson from ByteDance, the company has been negotiating a solution with the Trump administration. He said that “there are key matters to be resolved … Any agreement will be subject to approval under Chinese law.” Recently, Trump stated that his administration is very close to having a deal with a group of “good people.” He gave more insight saying that there are multiple investors involved in the deal.
Many companies have placed bids to acquire TikTok, including firms like Amazon, Oracle, Microsoft, and AppLovin. Investors groups led by Frank McCourt, Steven Mnuchin, Bobby Kotick, and Jesse Tinsley, with support from famous figures like MrBeast and Roblox CEO David Baszucki, have also made offers. Other interested parties include Rumble, Perplexity AI, and Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal.
On January 19, TikTok was banned in the United States. However, an executive order from Trump increased the deadline by another 90 days. He signed the second order, delaying enforcement of PAFACA or the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, and extended the TikTok ban deadline again by 75 days.