TikTok will remain accessible for US users after President Donald Trump gave the short-form video app another 75 days to find a new owner in that country, as the 05 April deadline is now hours away.
The company has been caught up in some geopolitical conflict with Congress, originally passing a law citing national security concerns about potential Chinese government surveillance, although TikTok’s parent company ByteDance has denied the claims.
Trump signs executive order to allow TikTok secure a buyer
TikTok was once banned by outgoing President Joe Biden in January, but hours later, President Trump extended the deadline with a ban in the US if a buyer would not be found by April 05.
Now, President Trump has intervened for the Chinese-owned business as he extended the grace period for the company to find a new owner for the US operation.
He announced through his Truth Social platform that the TikTok deal “requires more work to ensure all necessary approvals are signed.” As such, he was signing an executive order to keep the app up and running in the US.
In that post, the President said the move will “keep TikTok up and running for an additional 75 days,” which will bring the new deadline to mid-June.
“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 USA,” he said.
“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.”
Trump.
ByteDance told CNBC that the company has been in discussion with the US authorities, adding that any agreement will be subject to approval under Chinese law.
“An agreement has not been executed,” a ByteDance spokesperson said in a statement.
“There are key matters to be resolved,” added the spokesperson.
🚨 BREAKING: Donald Trump is signing an Executive Order to keep TikTok up and running for an additional 75 days. pic.twitter.com/J08m5Ukz8x
— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) April 4, 2025
The Tariffs issue contributed to the collapse of the deal
According to AP, President Trump had secured a deal for TikTok on Wednesday for its operations to be spun off to a US-based company, owned and operated by a majority of US investors. Under the deal, ByteDance would maintain a minority position, according to AP, citing a source familiar with the negotiations.
However, the deal fell on Thursday following an announcement of wide-ranging reciprocal tariffs, including against China. As a result, the Chinese tech giant’s representatives reportedly called the White House to notify that China was no longer approving the deal until there could be negotiations about trade and tariffs, added the person who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitive nature of the matter.
The person added that it was still uncertain if a deal would be in place on Friday after Beijing’s reversal of its position complicated TikTok’s ability to send clear signals about the nature of the agreement that had been reached, for fear of upsetting its negotiations with Chinese regulators.
The near-deal was negotiated and constructed over the course of months. Vice President’s JD Vance’s team was in direct negotiation with ByteDance officials and potential investors.
Several bidders have shown interest in the short-form video app, among them being a consortium of investors led by Susquehanna International Group and General Atlantic that have emerged as frontrunners, per an earlier report by Reuters.
The same report also indicated that private equity firm Blackstone is considering making a small minority investment in TikTok’s US business.
Former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt is another potential buyer and has emerged as one of the interested parties. Amazon, Perplexity, Oracle, and Microsoft have emerged as other prospective buyers, although the specific details of their current interest remain unclear.
ByteDance was initially given Jan. 19 as the deadline to sell the US operation, but President Trump signed an executive order when he took office the following day, giving the company 75 days to secure a buyer.
The law would penalize internet service providers and app store owners like Apple and Google for hosting and providing services to TikTok in the US. However, the Trump executive instructed the attorney general not to enforce it.
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