Just before today's Supreme Court ruling upholding the Jan. 19 law banning TikTok in the United States, Donald Trump said he had a “very good” phone conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Posted on Truth Social. It also included a discussion about TikTok. The president-elect also said he would make a decision regarding TikTok in the “not too distant” future, but did not say what he would do.
President Trump had previously indicated he would no longer support the ban after asking the Supreme Court to block a law requiring apps to be shut down or sold by January 19th, but in today's message: He said he would make a decision in 2020. Although it was in the future, I needed “time to review the situation'' before that. He also said the Supreme Court's decision was “as expected.”
“Stay tuned!” he wrote.
Prior to the ruling, President Trump also wrote on Truth Social that he had a good phone conversation with President Xi this morning and looked forward to “resolving many issues together” soon.
“We talked about the balance of trade, fentanyl, TikTok, and many other topics,” Trump wrote on his social platforms. “President Xi and I will do our best to make the world more peaceful and secure!”
Shortly after this call, the Supreme Court issued a ruling that upheld the ban. This would mean the app would be shut down in the US unless it goes on sale, but TikTok claimed it could not accomplish that in the allotted time.
It's unclear whether TikTok will effectively be blacked out on January 19th, or if it will continue to work on users' devices where it is already installed, with reports pointing to both scenarios. However, the Biden administration is said to be considering ways to keep TikTok available in the US even if the ban is upheld.