By News18,Vani Mehrotra
Copyright news18
Donald Trump has formally extended the deadline to keep TikTok available in the United States. According to the details, the social media app can now be accessed across the US until December 16, after a deal between American and Chinese government officials was announced on Monday.
Trump signed the executive order on TikTok on Tuesday, and this was the fourth time he bypassed federal law to prolong the deadline for the China-associated TikTok to sell its assets to an American company or face a ban.
The original deadline set by Congress was January 19 of this year, a day before Trump took the oath of office for his second term.
A deal for the popular social media app, which counts 170 million US users, would represent a breakthrough in months-long talks between the two biggest economies as they seek to defuse a wide-ranging trade war that has unnerved global markets.
The deal for TikTok, which had been in the works in the spring, was put on hold after China indicated it would not approve it following Trump’s announcements of tariffs on Chinese goods.
On Tuesday, when reporters asked the US President about the framework deal he had announced a day earlier, Trump said he would discuss TikTok with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday.
Trump added that there are companies that want to buy the social media app owned by ByteDance and that details about its potential suitors would be announced soon.
TIKTOK FRAMEWORK DEAL BETWEEN US, CHINA
Monday’s meeting in Madrid was held between US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, among other officials.
Following the meeting, Bessent told reporters that the goal was to switch TikTok’s assets to US ownership for its operations in America, though he declined to discuss the details of the framework.
Li Chenggang, China’s international trade representative, told reporters the sides have reached “basic framework consensus” to cooperatively resolve TikTok-related issues, reduce investment barriers and promote related economic and trade cooperation.
In March, Trump had said that his administration was in touch with four different groups on TikTok’s sale.
Microsoft, Amazon, billionaire Frank McCourt and a consortium led by the founder of OnlyFans have been among the bidders, according to reports.
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