President Donald Trump will extend the deadline for TikTok to divest its U.S. assets by another 90 days, the White House said Tuesday, marking the third time enforcement of the 2024 law has been punted.
The popular short-form video app has been illegal for companies to support or host online since Jan. 19, but Trump has been granting it unilateral extensions since he took office, saying he has a deal in the works.
“As he has said many times, President Trump does not want TikTok to go dark,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement on Tuesday. “This extension will last 90 days, which the Administration will spend working to ensure this deal is closed so that the American people can continue to use TikTok with the assurance that their data is safe and secure.”
A reported deal to sell off TikTok got caught in U.S.-China trade tensions earlier this year.
Just as the White House was preparing to unveil the finalized TikTok agreement ahead of an April 5 deadline, Beijing called ByteDance — TikTok’s China-based parent company — and ordered it to pause the deal after Washington imposed a slew of reciprocal tariffs on China, along with dozens of other countries, a person familiar with the matter said.
In Congress, Republicans are increasingly frustrated by the repeated extensions, but are still granting Trump space to negotiate a deal.
“We voted that it should be banned, and I look forward to the day that they can’t continue to propagate Chinese talking points,” said Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) on Tuesday before the announcement.
Few lawmakers have been willing to voice their frustrations publicly, wary of crossing the president, even as they’re frustrated by a TikTok negotiation that shows little sign of movement.
One exception is Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), the head of the House select committee on China, who warned in a public op-ed in March that nothing short of complete divestment from Beijing would suffice.
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