Trump says he’s willing to extend TikTok ban in US

The circumstances surrounding TikTok’s brief ban in the United States on January 19 were widely reported. Donald Trump, who took office the following day, extended the ban’s reprieve by 75 days, until April 5, and recently said he could extend it again if needed.

Image source: Unsplash, Olivier Bergeron

Recall that the American law passed under Biden requires the Chinese company ByteDance to separate its TikTok-related business in the US and transfer the entire local structure to the control of an American company or consortium of investors. The initial deadline for implementing all related measures was set for January 19, and on that day TikTok was unavailable to users in the US for several hours, but then returned to normal operation, although local TikTok clients were unable to download the application until yesterday evening.

Donald Trump, in the first hours of his second term, ordered a 75-day grace period for TikTok, during which he hopes to find American owners for the social network’s local infrastructure. During another press conference at the White House, as reported by the South China Morning Post, Donald Trump made it clear that a couple of weeks ago he had the authority to delay the ban on TikTok in the US for 90 days, and expressed confidence that the grace period could be extended if necessary. “We’ll see, I don’t think it will be necessary,” the US president summed up his reasoning.

According to Trump, many buyers are interested in acquiring TikTok’s business, and he himself sees the social network as a good tool for reaching out to young voters. According to Trump, Chinese President Xi Jingpin will approve the sale of TikTok’s assets in the United States, since it will be in China’s interests. “I will make sure that this is beneficial to China. I think it will be beneficial for China to make a deal,” Trump explained.