US President Donald Trump will extend ByteDance‘s deadline to sell TikTok’s US operations by another 90 days, pushing the latest deadline to mid-September.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to multiple news outlets on Tuesday (June 17): “President Trump will sign an additional Executive Order this week to keep TikTok up and running.”
“As he has said many times, President Trump does not want TikTok to go dark. This extension will last 90 days, which the Administration will spend working to ensure this deal is closed so that the American people can continue to use TikTok with the assurance that their data is safe and secure.”
The move marks the third extension since Trump took office in January, effectively stretching a mandate by the Biden administration that originally required ByteDance to divest its TikTok operations in the US to avoid being shut down by January 19.
“President Trump will sign an additional Executive Order this week to keep TikTok up and running.”
Karoline Leavitt, White House Press Secretary
TikTok went offline for over 170 million US users on January 18 ahead of the first deadline after the Supreme Court upheld the law at the time. Google and Apple also removed TikTok from their app stores to comply with the law.
However, less than 24 hours after TikTok switched off its service, the platform restored its service on January 19 after Trump provided the “necessary clarity and assurances” to its service providers. Trump took oath as president the following day.
Most recently on Tuesday, Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he expected to again extend the deadline, Reuters reported.
When asked about extending the deadline, Trump reportedly said: “Probably, yeah… Probably have to get China approval but I think we’ll get it. I think President Xi [Jinping] will ultimately approve it.”
The US and China last month agreed to a 90-day truce to their trade war, buying more time for TikTok to reach a deal. Trump said earlier this month that he and Xi had “a very good talk.”
“This extension will last 90 days, which the Administration will spend working to ensure this deal is closed so that the American people can continue to use TikTok with the assurance that their data is safe and secure.”
Karoline Leavitt, White House Press Secretary
In a statement following the two leaders’ call, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: “The US side should acknowledge the progress already made, and remove the negative measures taken against China.”
Both sides recently held high-level trade talks in London, with Trump saying the US deal with China to revive their trade truce was done.
“WE ARE GETTING A TOTAL OF 55% TARIFFS, CHINA IS GETTING 10%,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The U.S. law requiring TikTok to either sell its US operations or face a ban has drawn interest from several potential buyers. Amazon, Oracle, and a group including billionaire Frank McCourt and Employer.com founder Jesse Tinsley are reportedly in the running. Even Tim Stokely, the founder of OnlyFans, has thrown his hat in the ring with his new startup Zoop.
Trump had previously floated the idea of Elon Musk acquiring the platform. However, Musk shot down that speculation in February, saying, “I have not put in a bid for TikTok. I don’t have any plans for what I would do if I had TikTok.”
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