Trump says he thinks talks with China on TikTok sale to begin this week
‘We would pretty much have a deal,’ US president tells reporters; negotiations were put on hold after Trump announced steep tariffs on Chinese goods
US President Donald Trump said on Friday he will start talking to China on Monday or Tuesday about a possible TikTok deal.
He said the United States “pretty much” has a deal on the sale of the TikTok short-video app.
“I think we’re gonna start Monday or Tuesday…talking to China, perhaps [Chinese President Xi Jinping] or one of his representatives, but we would pretty much have a deal,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One.
Last month, Trump extended the deadline for China-based ByteDance to divest the US assets of TikTok to September 17.
A deal had been in the works this spring to spin off TikTok’s US operations into a new US-based firm, majority-owned and operated by US investors, but it was put on hold after China indicated it would not approve it after Trump announced steep tariffs on Chinese goods.
Trump said the United States will probably have to get a deal approved by China.
When asked how confident he was that China would agree to a deal, he said, “I’m not confident, but I think so. President Xi and I have a great relationship, and I think it’s good for them. I think the deal is good for China and it’s good for us.”
TikTok was banned in the US in April of last year under the administration of former US President Joe Biden. The law banning the Chinese app, which the US Supreme Court upheld, required it to be sold by January 19, 2025, but the deadline has been extended repeatedly.
The US has said it is concerned about TikTok collecting vast swaths of user data, including sensitive information on viewing habits, that could fall into the hands of the Chinese government through coercion.
Officials have also warned that the algorithm that fuels what users see on the app is vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities, who can use it to shape content on the platform in a way that is difficult to detect.
TikTok points out that the US has not presented evidence that China has attempted to manipulate content on its US platform or gather American user data through TikTok.
The Times of Israel Community.