KEY POINTS
- Trump extended the deadline for TikTok
- TikTok to find non-Chinese buyer or face ban in US
- The platform has more than 170 million American users
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has claimed that China would have agreed to a deal over the sale of TikTok if Washington had not imposed sweeping tariffs on Chinese imports last week.
Trump on Friday extended the deadline for TikTok to find a non-Chinese buyer or face a ban in the United States, allowing 75 more days to find a solution, a day after imposing an additional 34 per cent duties on all Chinese imports.
“The report is that we had a deal, pretty much for TikTok, not a deal, but pretty close, and then China changed the deal because of tariffs. If I gave a little cut in tariffs, they’d approve that deal in 15 minutes, which shows you the power of tariffs,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
Threat to TikTok
The hugely popular video-sharing app, which has more than 170 million American users, is under threat from a US law passed last year that orders TikTok to split from its Chinese owner ByteDance or get shut down in the United States.
Trump had insisted his administration was near a deal to find a buyer for TikTok and keep it from shutting down that would involve multiple investors but gave few details.
ByteDance, while confirming that it was in talks with the US government towards finding a solution, warned that there remained “key matters” to solve.
Chinese law
“An agreement has not been executed” and whatever was decided would be “subject to approval under Chinese law,” the company added.
ALSO READ: TikTok Faces New US Deadline
President Donald Trump extended a deadline requiring China-based ByteDance to sell the US operations of TikTok or face an effective ban in the country, marking the second time he has taken such action, according to CNBC.
Trump announced the extension on his Truth Social platform, saying the TikTok deal “requires more work to ensure all necessary approvals are signed.” The extension will “keep TikTok up and running for an additional 75 days,” he said. The new extension kicks TikTok’s deadline to mid-June.
