‘Don’t Want TikTok To Go Dark’: Trump Says Tariffs Work As He Delays Ban, Hints At China Thaw
Trump pauses TikTok ban, seeks improved relations with Beijing.
US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order granting TikTok an additional 75 days to continue operations and said that negotiations continue to finalise a deal that would keep the app running in the country.
The extension, he stated, reflects an effort to work in “good faith" with China and comes after the US President slapped huge tariffs on Chinese imports to the US.
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“My Administration has been working very hard on a Deal to SAVE TIKTOK, and we have made tremendous progress. 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," he posted on Truth Social.
TikTok on Friday was hours from a deadline to find a non-Chinese owner or face a ban in the United States.
The hugely popular video-sharing app, which has more than 170 million American users, is under threat from a US law that passed overwhelmingly last year and orders TikTok to split from its Chinese owner ByteDance or get shut down in the United States.
Tariffs A Great Tool, Says Trump
He also linked the decision to broader trade negotiations with China, which he said was unhappy with the US-imposed tariffs.
“We hope to continue working in Good Faith with China, who I understand are not very happy about our Reciprocal Tariffs (Necessary for Fair and Balanced Trade between China and the U.S.A.!) This proves that Tariffs are the most powerful Economic tool, and very important to our National Security!" the US President said.
Motivated by national security fears and widespread belief in Washington that TikTok is ultimately controlled by the Chinese government, the law took effect on January 19, one day before Trump’s inauguration.
In the hours before that deadline, TikTok temporarily shut down in the United States and disappeared from app stores, to the dismay of millions of users.
According to reports, the most likely solution would see existing US investors in ByteDance roll over their stakes into a new independent global TikTok company.
Additional US investors, including Oracle and Blackstone, the private equity firm, would be brought on to reduce ByteDance’s share.
Much of TikTok’s US activity is already housed on Oracle servers, and the company’s chairman, Larry Ellison, is a longtime Trump ally.
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