WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will sign an executive order this week to extend a deadline for TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance to divest the popular video sharing app, the White House announced Tuesday.
“As he has said many times, President Trump does not want TikTok to go dark,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. "This extension will last 90 days, which the Administration will spend working to ensure this deal is closed so that the American people can continue to use TikTok with the assurance that their data is safe and secure.”
The president previewed the decision in comments aboard Air Force One on Tuesday.
“Probably yeah, yeah," he told reporters, when asked about if the deadline would be extended again.
"Probably have to get China approval, but I think we’ll get it," he said. "I think President Xi will ultimately approve it."
Trump has already given TikTok two 75-day reprieves, and the latest deadline for the company to find an approved buyer or be banned within the United States was Thursday. It will be the third time Trump has extended the deadline.
After the second extension in April, TikTok released a statement saying that ByteDance had been in discussion with the U.S. government about a “potential solution” and that any agreement would be “subject to approval under Chinese law.”
The potential ban on TikTok in the U.S. comes as American and Chinese negotiators continue trade talks. On Wednesday, Trump announced that China will supply U.S. companies with magnets and rare earth minerals, tariffs on Chinese goods would be lowered to 55% and Chinese students would be allowed to continue attending American colleges and universities.
“RELATIONSHIP IS EXCELLENT! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!” Trump wrote on Truth Social, while heralding the developments.
TikTok users got a preview earlier this year of what it may look like should the current deadline not be extended and the law approved by Congress and upheld by the Supreme Court is allowed to go into effect. The app went dark for more than 170 million users in the U.S. for about a day in January, but service was restored after then President-elect Trump said he would allow ByteDance to have more time to find a buyer.
Opponents of the law cite First Amendment protections, and the American Civil Liberties Union contended it would “set a disturbing precedent for future government restrictions on online speech.” Meanwhile, supporters such as Sen Mark Warner, D-Va., argue that the app leaves Americans open to influence from a foreign adversary.
During his first term, Trump had himself led the effort to ban TikTok, saying the popular platform threatened national security, but his position toward the app has since shifted. He said in December he has a “warm spot” in his heart for the video-sharing service, claiming that TikTok helped to bolster his support among young voters. His most recent TikTok post was on Election Day in November 2024.
Since posting his first video in June 2024 — a montage of his appearance at an Ultimate Fighting Championship event in Newark, New Jersey — Trump has amassed nearly 15 million followers on Tik Tok.
A request for comment made to TikTok about the potential extension was not immediately returned.