President Donald Trump has extended the deadline for the TikTok ban by 75 days. On Friday, Trump posted on Truth Social that he is signing an executive order to allow more time to finalize a deal. The announcement came just one day before the ban was scheduled to take effect.
“My Administration has been working very hard on a Deal to SAVE TIKTOK, and we have made tremendous progress,” Trump wrote. “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.”
This marks the second time Trump has extended the deadline for the TikTok ban. ByteDance’s original deadline to sell TikTok’s U.S. operations was January 19, based on a law signed last year by former President Joe Biden. However, Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office to give the company 75 more days to finalize a deal.
Before the executive order was signed, TikTok was briefly taken offline and removed from the Apple and Google app stores before being restored.
According to Bloomberg, Trump reviewed a proposal on Wednesday from a group of U.S. investors including Oracle, Blackstone, and Andreessen Horowitz. This proposal is reportedly viewed as a top contender for a potential deal. Other interested parties include Amazon, Perplexity, billionaire Frank McCourt’s Project Liberty consortium, Walmart, AppLovin, and more.
It is important to note that the Chinese government would need to approve any deal before it can be finalized. Additionally, ByteDance has not expressed any interest in selling TikTok or reducing its stake in the social media platform, as required by the TikTok ban law.
This development follows Trump’s recent announcement of sweeping tariffs, including a 34% tariff rate on China. Trump has previously indicated he may reduce tariffs on China to help facilitate a TikTok deal.
In his post announcing the deadline extension, Trump wrote: “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! We do not want TikTok to ‘go dark.’ We look forward to working with TikTok and China to close the Deal. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
In response to the tariffs, China announced on Friday that it will impose a 34% tariff on all U.S. product imports.
