US President Donald Trump has signed a new executive order, extending the deadline of the TikTok ban by another 75 days. The extension comes after the man announced sweeping tariffs that pushed the Chinese government to pull out of an initial deal.
According to AP and Reuters, the executive order came into place after the White House was close to sealing a deal that would see TikTok’s US operations being spun off and run into a new company, owned by multiple US investors, while the social media platform’s parent company, ByteDance, would maintain a small minority.
However, after Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs were announced and with China squarely in his crosshairs, the country told ByteDance to inform the US that its government would no longer approve the deal. At least, not until the promise of negotiations regarding trade and tariffs were an option.
“My Administration has been working very hard on a Deal to SAVE TIKTOK, and we have made tremendous progress,” Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social. “The Deal requires more work to ensure all necessary approvals are signed, which is why I am signing an Executive Order to keep TikTok up and running for an additional 75 days.”
Trump introduced sweeping tariffs on 2 April, with China being hit the hardest with a 54% hit on all goods imported. The decision is part of his administration’s plan on bringing technological supremacy back into the US and unsurprisingly, this hasn’t gone down well with the rest of the world.
