(Credit: Klaudia Radecka/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
In theory, TikTok owner ByteDance has until mid-September to finalize a deal to sell the app's US operation, or it will face a ban in the country. President Trump claims he has a buyer for the app, but says we won't find out who it is for another two weeks.
During an appearance on Fox News this weekend, host Maria Bartiromo asked Trump about extending the tariff pause. Trump shrugged it off, arguing that he might, but that it's "no big deal" either way. (Businesses trying to plan for the future might disagree.)
Trump then added, "It's like TikTok. I'm extending that. You know? But no big deal. We have a buyer for TikTok, by the way. I think I'll need, probably, China approval, and I think President Xi will probably do it."
"Who's buying it?" Bartiromo asked.
"I'll tell you in about, uh, two weeks," Trump responded with a smirk, likely a nod to his penchant for repeatedly saying he'll have an answer on tough decisions in "two weeks."
He says the buyer is a "group of very wealthy people," without elaborating.
If this deal is to happen, it will require significant investment. Analysts previously estimated that TikTok's US operations are worth between $20 billion and $50 billion.
A law signed by President Biden last year required TikTok to divest by Jan. 19, 2025, or face a US ban. It gave the president the option to extend that deadline by 90 days, but only if a deal was imminent. When he took office, Trump instead extended the deadline by 75 days, which he re-upped in April, and again in June, a move that critics argue is illegal.
This whole debate kicked off during Trump's first term, when he signed an executive order that included the divest-or-be-banned edict. He and other lawmakers argued that TikTok posed a national security threat given its Chinese ownership. The Biden administration then made the same argument. But now, almost six months later, TikTok is humming along, and few people seem too concerned about it.
TikTok was taken down in January for around half a day prior to Trump's second inauguration, but was quickly restored, ostensibly because Trump provided TikTok assurances that the Justice Department wouldn't enforce the law, which targets app stores hosting TikTok.