President Trump Extends TikTok Deadline for a Second Time

ByteDance has bought itself some time in regards to the TikTok ban in the U.S. President Trump has announced a deadline extension for the the app for a second time.

Taking to a Truth Social post Trump wrote, “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.” The deadline gives the China-based company ByteDance, more time time find a suitable U.S. operations company to take over TikTok. The new extension pushes the deadline to mid-June. Trump also 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.!),” in accordance to the recent tariffs announcements in America.

CNBC confirmed that ByteDance has been in active communication with the U.S. government. A spokesperson for ByteDance said, “An agreement has not been executed. There are key matters to be resolved.” ByteDance’s original deadline to sell TikTok was on January 19. However, Trump later signed an executive order the day after he took office, giving the company 75 more days to make a deal. Prior to the law going in effect, respective app stores from Google and Apple, removed the app from its stores, preparing for the temporary shutdown Americans faced. This was short-lived as the app came online after Trump signed the executive order to extend the deadline.

The Chinese government would have to approve the deal before it is completed. On Truth Social, Trump also wrote, “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!”