President Donald Trump has extended the deadline for the Tiktok ban for 75 days. Trump shared a post about Truth Social on Friday. The announcement will be made one day before the ban is scheduled to come into effect.
“My administration has worked very hard to save Tiktok, and we have made great strides,” Trump wrote. “This transaction requires more work to ensure that all necessary approvals are signed, which is why we are signing an executive order to keep Tiktok up and running for another 75 days.”
Today's announcement marks the second time Trump has extended the deadline for the ban on Tiktok. According to a law signed by former President Joe Biden last year, the original deadline for Byte Dance to sell Tiktok's US business was January 19th. However, Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office, giving the company another 75 days of dealing.
Before signing the executive order, Tiktok was temporarily filmed offline and removed from the Apple and Google App stores before it was eventually restored.
Bloomberg reports that Trump reviewed proposals from a group of US investors, including Oracle, Blackstone and Andreessen Horowitz on Wednesday. The proposal is reportedly considered a top candidate for a potential deal. Other stakeholders include Amazon, Perplexity, billionaire Frank McCourt's Project Liberty Consortium, Walmart, Applovin, and more.
It is worth noting that the Chinese government must approve the transaction before finalizing it. Furthermore, bytedance has not expressed interest in reducing Tiktok's sales or interest in social networks, as required by the Tiktok Prohibition Act.
The move comes days after Trump announced the sweeping fees, where he imposed a 34% tariff rate on China. Trump has previously said that he may reduce Chinese tariffs to promote Tiktok transactions.
In his post, announcing an extension of the deadline for the Tiktok ban, Trump said, “We want to continue our work with China in good faith, and we understand that we are not very satisfied with what is necessary for our mutual tariffs (which are fair and balanced trade between China and the United States.” We look forward to working with Tiktok and China.
In retaliation on tariffs, China said on Friday it would impose a 34% tariff on imports of all US products.