President Donald Trump said his administration was “very close” to a deal to find a buyer for TikTok, which faces a US ban if not sold by its Chinese owner by the weekend.
“We’re very close to a deal with a very good group of people,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, adding that it involved “multiple” investors but giving no further details.
The hugely popular video-sharing app, which has over 170 million American users, is under threat from a US law that passed overwhelmingly last year and orders TikTok to split from its Chinese owner ByteDance or face a ban in the United States.
Motivated by national security fears and widespread belief in Washington that TikTok is ultimately controlled by the Chinese government, the law took effect on January 19, one day before Trump’s inauguration.
But the Republican president quickly announced a delay that has allowed it to continue to operate; that delay is set to expire on April 5.
Trump has downplayed risks that TikTok is in danger of being banned in the United States, saying he remains confident of finding a buyer for the app’s US business.
The US president also suggested TikTok could even be part of a broader deal with China to ease the stinging tariffs he imposed on Beijing as part of a worldwide blitz of levies.
Asked Thursday if he was willing to make deals with countries on tariffs, he said: “As long as they are giving us something that is good. For instance with TikTok.”
He added: “We have a situation with TikTok where China will probably say we’ll approve a deal but will you do something on the tariffs. The tariffs give us great power to negotiate.”
According to reports, the most likely solution would see existing US investors in ByteDance roll over their stakes into a new independent global TikTok company.
Additional US investors, including Oracle and Blackstone, the private equity firm, would be brought on to reduce the proportion of Chinese investors.
Much of TikTok’s US activity is already housed on Oracle servers, and the company’s chairman, Larry Ellison, is a longtime Trump ally.
But uncertainty remains, particularly over what would happen to TikTok’s valuable algorithm. The New York Times suggested the new company could licence it from ByteDance.
Amazon has also reportedly made a last-minute bid to buy TikTok.
