US President Donald Trump has extended the deadline for TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance to divest its US operations by 75 days, following complications arising from newly imposed tariffs on China.
The extension, announced Friday, gives ByteDance until mid-June to find a non-Chinese buyer for the popular video-sharing platform, which counts approximately 170 million American users.
“My Administration has been working very hard on a Deal to SAVE TIKTOK,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “The Deal requires more work to ensure all necessary approvals are signed.”
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ByteDance faced a Saturday deadline to comply with a law passed in 2024 requiring either sale or divestiture of TikTok’s US business.
Sources familiar with the negotiations said that representatives from ByteDance informed White House officials on Thursday that China would not approve the deal until there were negotiations around trade and tariffs.
Vice President JD Vance, who has been leading the administration’s efforts on the TikTok issue alongside national security adviser Mike Waltz (of SignalGate), said as recently as Thursday morning that an agreement was imminent.
“I think we’re in a good place,” Vance told Fox News. “We’re going to keep working at it.”
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This setback highlights how US national security concerns and broader trade tensions with China have become deeply interconnected. Under the proposed deal, American investors would have owned a majority stake in a new US-based company, while ByteDance kept a minority position.
Several high-profile bidders are competing for the acquisition. According to people familiar with the discussions, Oracle Corp and Blackstone Inc, along with venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, are the top contenders. Another consortium reportedly led by Employer.com CEO Jesse Tinsley has offered a $30 billion all-cash deal that includes popular YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast), with Frank McCourt, former Los Angeles Dodgers owner, as a backer. Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, Amazon, and Microsoft have also reportedly expressed interest.
Related: Trump Offers China Tariff Relief in Exchange for TikTok Deal Approval
The app briefly went offline in the US following Trump’s inauguration but was restored after the president signaled his willingness to find a solution.
The extension comes as international allies, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, have warned they may need to take protective measures in response to Trump’s sweeping tariffs on Chinese goods.
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