Deadline for TikTok sale extended by 75 days, as Trump vows to work with China
The president of the United States Donald Trump has extended a 75 -day deadline for the Chinese technological company Bytedance to sell US activities of the popular short video app Tiktok to a non -Chinese buyer or face a ban that should have been carried out in January pursuant to the law of 2024.
“The agreement requires more work to ensure that all the necessary approvals are signed,” Trump said on social media, explaining why he was extending the deadline he set in January that he should have expired on Saturday. “We hope to continue working in good faith with China, which I understand is not very happy for our mutual rates”.
China now has to face a 54 % rate on the goods imported in the United States after Trump announced that he was making them a 34 % excursion this week, pushing China to take revenge on Friday. Trump said he would be willing to reduce the rates on China to make an agreement with bytedance to sell the app used by 170 million Americans.
Trump said that his administration was in contact with four different groups on a potential Tiktok agreement. Has not identified them.
A big obstacle for any agreement for the US Tiktok activity is the approval of the Chinese government. China did not take a public commitment to allow a sale and Trump’s comments suggested a renewed Chinese opposition.
“We can’t wait to work with Tiktok and China to close the agreement,” Trump wrote on Friday. “We don’t want Tiktok to be” dark “,” added Trump.
The congress approved the measure last year with a overwhelming bipartisan support, while the legislators cited the risk that the Chinese government will exploit Tiktok to spy the Americans and carry out operations of secret influence. So President Joe Biden signed him in law.
Some legislators said that Trump must enforce the law, which he had requested Tiktok to stop operating by January 19 unless bytedance had completed a transfer of the US activities.
Trump started his second term as president on January 20 and decided not to enforce it.
The Department of Justice previously told Apple and Google that he would not apply the law, which led them to restore the app for new downloads.
The new order of Trump will set up a deadline in mid -June for an agreement.
The interviews led by the White House on the future of Tiktok are putting themselves so that a plan for major Chinese investors in the parent company to increase their participation and acquire the US operations of the app, Reuters reported.
The plan provides that it turns an American entity for Tiktok and will dilute the Chinese property in the new activity below the 20 % threshold required by the United States law, saving the app from an impending American ban, the sources have told Reuters.
The Susquehanna International Group of Jeff Yass and General Atlantic of Bill Ford, both represented on the Board of Directors of Bytedance, are leading discussions with the White House, Reuters reported.
Walmart is also taking into consideration the idea of joining a group of investors in an agreement for Tiktok, said an ABC News journalist on social media. The great retailer, who had expressed interest in investing in Tiktok in 2020, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
Even Tiktok did not immediately respond to a commentary request.
