Trump says he may ease up on China tariffs to get TikTok deal done
President Trump announced on Wednesday that he would consider reducing tariffs to reach a deal with TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance.
ByteDance is facing a deadline of April 5 to secure a non-Chinese buyer for TikTok, or else risk a ban in the US on national security grounds.
In a surprising turn of events regarding the fate of the popular short-video app, Trump expressed willingness to extend the deadline if an agreement on the social media platform was not reached.
“With respect to TikTok, and China is going to have to play a role in that, possibly in the form of an approval, maybe, and I think they’ll do that. Maybe I’ll give them a little reduction in tariffs or something to get it done,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday.
Vice President JD Vance has expressed confidence that the general terms of an agreement to resolve the ownership of the social media platform will be finalized by April 5.
The future of the app, which is used by nearly half of all Americans, has been uncertain since a law passed last year required ByteDance to divest TikTok by January 19.
In January, the app briefly went offline after the US Supreme Court upheld the ban, but it was restored shortly after Trump assumed office.
China deal ease tariffs TikTok Trump
