After extending the “ban or sell” deadline for a third time, President Donald Trump announced Sunday he has allegedly found a new buyer for TikTok.
Trump made the accouncement during an interview on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo. Trump said (via Reuters): “We have a buyer for TikTok, by the way. I think I’ll need probably China’s approval. I think President Xi will probably do it.”
When pressed further, Trump teased that the buyers were “very wealthy people” — but promised that he’d formally announce it in two weeks.
The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which was signed off in April 2024, gave ByteDance a 90-day deadline to find an American buyer for TikTok — or risk the app being banned for good on January 19. After failing to meet this deadline, TikTok briefly went dark — until Trump revived it with the first of what would turn out to be many executive orders extending this deadline.
A deal was practically signed and sealed as the second ban date, April 5, drew closer. But it all fell apart at the eleventh hour after Trump hiked up tariffs on China. Since then, relations have thawed, but not enough to cement a deal by the third TikTok ban date, June 19.
This leaves us with our third executive order, which extends the deadline to mid-September. Until then, the Trump TikTok ban saga continues.
