This spring, the United States and China were close to reaching an agreement to split TikTok’s U.S. business into a new company majority owned and operated by U.S. investors, but the Chinese government refused to approve the deal after President Trump began to impose high tariffs. Trump revealed on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” on the 29th that he had found a buyer for TikTok, a group of “very wealthy people”, and he would disclose the identity of the buyer in about two weeks.
The New York Post reported that after Trump began imposing tariffs on “Liberation Day” in April, he gave countries a 90-day extension to reach an agreement with the United States, with a deadline of July 8. When asked on the show whether he would postpone July 8 again, he said “I don’t think it’s necessary, it’s no big deal”, and then compared this situation to the request that TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance divest its U.S. business.
Trump said: “It’s like TikTok, I’m pushing this…By the way, we have a buyer for TikTok. I think this may require China’s approval, and I think Xi Jinping will probably approve it. Who is the buyer? I’ll tell you in about two weeks.”
Former President Biden signed a bill passed by the U.S. Congress in April 2024 to force the sale of TikTok, requiring ByteDance to complete the divestiture of its U.S. business, or at least show significant progress, otherwise TikTok must cease operations before January 19 this year; TikTok once questioned the constitutionality of the bill and appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and lost.
Trump relied on this popular video platform to gain the support of young voters in last year’s election, so he extended the deadline twice. On the 19th of this month, Trump signed an executive order to extend the ban for a third time by 90 days to September 17. The White House said this was to give TikTok time to be transferred to American companies. Trump said on NBC News last month that he hopes to successfully divest TikTok, and admitted that he has a special affection for TikTok because the app helps him attract young voters. “TikTok is really interesting, but it will be protected.”
US congressmen are worried that TikTok or ByteDance may hand over US user data to the Chinese government, but TikTok denies this; Trump has repeatedly postponed the deadline through executive orders, which has also attracted criticism.
