TikTok ban threatens US economy, so president Trump will grant a 90-day extension

TikTok is hanging by a thread in the United States. If it does get banned, it will wipe billions of dollars out of the economy, according to a Jan. 18 report by the Journal.

But according to a report by NBC, President Donald Trump, who is stepping into office on Monday, is considering a 90-day extension to the deadline. This would give TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, more time to find a US-approved buyer.

“I think that would be, certainly, an option that we look at,” Trump said, calling the extension “appropriate.”

Why TikTok’s ban has big economic consequences

Small businesses, social media entrepreneurs, and major advertisers have built an entire ecosystem around TikTok. According to ByteDance, TikTok’s contribution to the US economy is over $20 billion annually as of 2024. For context, that’s roughly equivalent to the GDP of a small nation.

If TikTok is banned, it will disrupt a sprawling economy that includes small businesses, content creators, and even major financial institutions.

TikTok earns its money through ads and commissions from sales on the platform. From the TikTok Shop to personalized For You pages, businesses have thrived by targeting their customers directly. If the app goes dark, these revenue streams vanish.

ByteDance employs 59,000 people in the US, and they’d find themselves jobless overnight. ByteDance itself is valued at $300 billion, though it hasn’t disclosed TikTok’s individual worth. Some of its shareholders are big players in the American market, like BlackRock, General Atlantic, and Susquehanna International Group.

Their investors would be losing billions of dollars. Meanwhile, Washington is also laser-focused on security concerns. Lawmakers claim that they’re afraid TikTok will become a tool for surveillance or propaganda by the Chinese government, something ByteDance has repeatedly denied.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said they’ve done all they can to let TikTok and America know that they’re not in support of the ban. Yet, on Friday, TikTok publicly demanded clearer assurances from the administration, warning it will shut down unless it gets legal clarity. The NBC report said Karine called it a “stunt.”

And even if Trump grants the extension, TikTok could still face temporary downtime. The compliance deadline falls on Sunday, and without immediate action, the app might be forced to “go dark” for at least a day until Trump gets sworn in.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently raised its 2025 growth forecast for the US to 2.7%, up from 2.2% in earlier estimates. The IMF projects US GDP grew by 2.8% in 2024, far outdoing the eurozone’s 0.8%.

Inflation has dropped from 9% in 2022 to less than 3% at the end of last year, and the labor market, while softer, remains quite strong.