President Donald Trump is preparing another extension for the deadline that determines the ban or selling of Tiktok in the United States. The decision, which must be made official through an executive order, aims to postpone the application of the law approved in 2024, which prohibits the operation of the Chinese application in the country or requires its sale to US investors. This will be the third extension since Trump took office in January. The information is from the newspaper The Wall Street Journal.
The government had been facilitating an agreement for US investors to take control of Tiktok, but negotiations were imposed by the imposition of high tariffs on Chinese products in early April. With the commercial tensions not yet resolved, the agreement remained uncertain, according to administration officials. The current extension wins on June 19, and the new deadline is expected to be announced soon.
Tiktok, owned by the Chinese company Bytedance, has been the subject of national security concerns for allegedly allowing the Chinese government to access US user data and influence public opinion. Bytedance denies such accusations and claims that it did not receive requests to share data, nor would it meet if it received it. Nevertheless, Trump recognizes the value of the application to reach young audiences, saying he would like to “save Tiktok.”
The acquisition plan provided for American companies such as Oracle, Blackstone, Silver Lake, Andreessen Horowitz and Michael Dell to take most of the US operation control, with Bytedance keeping less than 20% of the shares. However, by the representatives of Bytedance reported that China would not approve the deal while commercial and tariff negotiations did not advance, further complicating the process.
Meanwhile, Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping have maintained recent contact to discuss the resumption of commercial negotiations, with a new round of conversations scheduled to take place in London. Despite criticism from some Republicans about Trump’s decision to ignore the law passed by Congress, the party -controlled legislature showed no interest in blocking the president’s actions.
