Donald Trump Set to Discuss TikTok Deal Today

As April approaches, reports emerged over the weekend that US President Donald Trump will announce a deal to spin off TikTok’s US business before the end of the week. The US social media ban’s reprieve ends this Saturday, but Trump could be involved in discussions on the deal as early as today.

Image source: Unsplash, Jonathan Kemper

CBS News first reported the news, but Bloomberg and Reuters confirmed the information via their channels. Donald Trump is reported to meet with US officials and potential deal participants today to consider the final proposals of the parties. However, even if the parameters of the deal are determined in the US, they will still have to be agreed upon with the Chinese side. There is a possibility that the Chinese authorities will prefer to control the export of technologies from their country, and TikTok’s recommendation algorithm is one of such technologies.

It is expected that investors in TikTok’s American assets will include Oracle and Blackstone, since the former already provides its computing infrastructure for the social network’s operation in the US, and the latter is an investor in the capital of the parent Chinese company ByteDance. As a result of the deal, Oracle may receive a small share of the American structure responsible for TikTok’s operation in the US. It is not yet clear whether the recommendation algorithm will remain under the control of the Chinese side. Even if the deal is agreed upon in the US, it will have to be discussed in detail not only with the parent company ByteDance, but also with Chinese officials. If this requires additional time, Trump expressed his readiness to extend the deferment of the ban on TikTok’s operation in the US from the coming Saturday. He also admitted his readiness to stimulate the loyalty of the Chinese side by reducing import tariffs in the US for products from this country.