WEST PALM BEACH, Florida: US President Donald Trump mentioned he would lengthen the Jun 19 deadline for China-based ByteDance to divest the US belongings of TikTok, the brief video app utilized by 170 million Individuals, if no deal had been reached by then.
“I’d … I would prefer to see it finished,” Trump informed the NBC Information program “Meet the Press with Kristen Welker” in an interview taped on Friday (Might 4) at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Seashore, Florida, that’s airing throughout the US on Sunday.
Trump mentioned he had a “candy spot” for the app after it helped him win over younger voters within the 2024 presidential election, including, “TikTok is – it’s extremely attention-grabbing, however it will likely be protected”.
Trump has already twice granted a reprieve from the enforcement of a congressionally mandated ban on TikTok that was initially attributable to take impact in January.
A deal had been within the works that will spin off TikTok’s US operations into a brand new agency based mostly in the US and majority-owned and operated by US buyers but it surely was placed on maintain after China indicated it will not approve it following Trump’s bulletins of steep tariffs on Chinese language items.
Democratic senators argue that Trump has no authorized authority to increase the deadline, and recommend that the deal that had been into account wouldn’t meet authorized necessities.
