Trump has extended the deadline for ByteDance to sell TikTok’s U.S. operations by 75 days, pushing the cutoff to mid-June.
The decision, announced on Trump’s Truth Social account, marks the second extension since he took office. He said the deal “requires more work” and emphasized that he hopes to continue negotiating with China “in good faith,” despite rising tensions over newly imposed tariffs.
ByteDance had originally faced an April 5 deadline under a national security law passed in 2024, requiring the company to divest TikTok’s U.S. business or face an effective ban. A previous extension moved the deadline from January 19 to April.
Several bidders remain in talks to acquire TikTok’s U.S. assets, including Oracle, AppLovin, and Amazon, which recently made a last-minute bid. Other interested groups include investors like Andreessen Horowitz and Frank McCourt’s Project Liberty, backed by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. Any deal must still be approved by the Chinese government.
Trump said tariffs remain a powerful negotiating tool and reiterated his goal to avoid shutting TikTok down entirely. “We do not want TikTok to ‘go dark,’” he said, adding that a deal would preserve national security while allowing the app to operate under U.S. control.
The app briefly went offline in February before being reinstated after Trump’s executive order paused enforcement of the law.
