President Trump extends TikTok ban enforcement by another 75 days

U.S. President Donald Trump has extended the deadline for the TikTok ban by 75 days. The announcement comes just one day before the wear-off of the current extension.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump noted that the new extension is structured to provide more time to finalize a deal and save TikTok in the U.S.

“My Administration has been working very hard on a Deal to SAVE TIKTOK, and we have made tremendous progress,” Trump wrote. “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,” he said.

Recall that TikTok has been caught in a dilemma over the 2024 “sell or ban” law amid years of allegations from the former President Joe Biden administration that TikTok’s ties to China pose a national security risk and that it exposes Americans’ sensitive information to the Chinese government.

The move which mandates ByteDance to divest its U.S. operations to another owner was given a lifeline after Donald Trump set the April 5 deadline in January for TikTok to find a non-Chinese buyer or face a U.S. ban. Before signing the executive order on his inauguration day, TikTok was briefly taken offline and removed from the Apple and Google app stores before eventually being restored.

The latest executive order now marks the second time that the U.S. President has extended the deadline for the short video platform ban.

See Also: TikTok’s Zhang Yiming now China’s richest person with $57.5 billion net worth.

Donald Trump had earlier hinted that he was willing to extend the April 5 deadline if an agreement was not reached. He added that China will play a big role in getting any deal done and its  approval, saying that  “maybe I’ll give them a little reduction in tariffs or something to get it done.”

The White House had said it expects the general terms of an agreement resolving the ownership of the social media platform to be reached by April 5 following its involvement at an unprecedented level in the closely watched deal talks as it plays the role of an investment bank.

Save TikTok – the race is redeemed once again

President Trump’s executive order further solidifies an outpour of an expected favour on the platform. Before his January 20 inauguration, Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that he had a conversation with China’s leader, Chairman Xi Jinping, in which they discussed TikTok, among other things. He didn’t say what the outcome of that conversation was.  

In an intervention in December, he had urged the court to delay its decision until he returned to the White House to enable him to seek a “political solution” to resolve the issues. “As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.,” the platform said after it restored services a day before his inauguration.

While it seems that the platform will lose its presence in the U.S., which might see it lose over 170 million users, relying on Trump’s involvement proved to be a last resort. Indeed, his intention was timely. 

Since then, Trump has been reviewing proposals from interested parties. A report by Bloomberg claimed that a group of U.S. investors, including Oracle, Blackstone, and Andreessen Horowitz, showed strong interest in the buyout on Wednesday. The proposal is reportedly considered a top contender for a potential deal. Other interested parties in talks include Amazon, Perplexity, billionaire Frank McCourt’s Project Liberty consortium, Walmart, AppLovin, and more.

Notably, a deal would be impossible without approval from the Chinese government. To help TikTok alleviate the worse, its parent company’s government would have to consent and finalize the deal when called upon. Another concern is that ByteDance has not shown any interest in selling TikTok or reducing its stake in the social network as is required by the TikTok sell or ban law.

Meanwhile, the new development comes amid Trump’s sweeping tariffs where he imposed a 34 per cent tariff on Chinese imports. 

Trump has previously stated that he may reduce tariffs on China to facilitate a TikTok deal. In retaliation to the tariffs, China said on Friday that it will impose a 34 per cent tariff on imports of all U.S. products.

In his post announcing the extension of the TikTok ban deadline, 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!”