US President Donald Trump plans to issue another executive order postponing the deadline for TikTok’s potential ban in the US.
That’s according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited people familiar with the president’s plan as saying that Trump is expected to push back the deadline, currently set to June 19, when parent company ByteDance must sell its US TikTok operations or face a ban in the country.
The video-sharing platform has been operating under a series of reprieves since January, the original deadline set in legislation signed by then-President Joe Biden.
Trump has already extended the deadline twice through executive action, pushing the current due date out by 150 days.
Administration officials cited stalled negotiations with China over trade policy as the primary obstacle to completing a deal for the sale of TikTok to an American entity, the WSJ reported.
Earlier this year, talks were upended by Trump’s sweeping tariffs on China, further exacerbating the already strained relationship between the two countries.
Last week, Trump told reporters: “We’ll probably have to get China’s approval. China’s never easy… I’d like to save TikTok. I mean, TikTok was very good to me.”
Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping had what the US president described as “a very good talk” on Thursday (June 5), Trump’s first since returning to office.
In a statement on Thursday following the 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.”
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.
Both sides were to hold another round of trade talks in London on Monday (June 9), with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer meeting with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, according to CNBC.
The US “divest-or-ban” law aimed at TikTok has attracted several potential investors seeking to acquire TikTok’s US business. Among the reported buyers are Amazon; Oracle; billionaire Frank McCourt and Jesse Tinsley, founder of payroll company Employer.com; and Zoop, a startup run by Tim Stokely, founder of adult entertainment platform OnlyFans, among others.
Trump had previously publicly suggested Tesla CEO Elon Musk as a potential buyer for the platform. However, in February, Musk denied this, 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.”
Music Business Worldwide
