President Donald Trump has extended the TikTok ban deadline by 75 days. On Friday, he announced on Truth Social that he was signing an executive order to allow additional time to finalize a deal, coming just one day before the ban was scheduled to take effect.
In his post, Trump stated, “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.”
This marks the second extension of the TikTok ban deadline under Trump’s administration. According to a law signed last year by former President Joe Biden, ByteDance’s initial deadline to sell TikTok’s U.S. operations was January 19. However, Trump had previously signed an executive order on his first day in office granting the company an extra 75 days to complete a deal.
Before the executive order was signed, TikTok was temporarily taken offline and removed from the Apple and Google app stores, only to be restored later.
Bloomberg reports that on Wednesday, Trump reviewed a proposal from a consortium of U.S. investors, including Oracle, Blackstone, and Andreessen Horowitz, which is reportedly considered a top contender for a potential deal. Other interested parties include Amazon, Perplexity, billionaire Frank McCourt’s Project Liberty consortium, Walmart, AppLovin, and others.
It is important to note that any deal must receive approval from the Chinese government before it can be finalized. Additionally, ByteDance has not indicated any intention to sell TikTok or reduce its stake in the social network, as required by the TikTok ban law.
This development follows a recent announcement by Trump imposing a 34% tariff on China. Trump has previously suggested that tariffs might be reduced to facilitate a deal for TikTok.
In his post announcing the extension, Trump stated: “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 would impose a 34% tariff on imports of all U.S. products.
