President Trump is starting “not to give a crap” if TikTok briefly goes dark as the end to the latest ban extension looms, On The Money has learned.
Trump has tired of China dangling TikTok as a carrot to gain an advantage in ongoing trade talks over tariffs, people with knowledge of the discussions said.
The two sides have been close to a trade deal, Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have said in recent days, ahead of next Tuesday’s deadline for an agreement.
But those talks could also stretch into the fall as they hammer out the final details, Bessent has suggested.
That’s why the betting inside the TikTok deal pool is that there’s a 50-50 shot it fades to black come the Sept. 17 deadline for a TikTok deal – at least for a while until both Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping settle on a trade pact that includes keeping the app live.
You might be thinking that Trump just might kick the can down the road with another executive order extension, right?
Well not so fast, I am told, including by one person close to the TikTok talks who relayed the lack of “crap” Trump feels if the video-sharing app is briefly yanked.
The deal only works if US investors are ready to put up tens of billions of dollars to buy the app from the Chinese company ByteDance, and if the Chinese are willing to give up enough control to satisfy the ban law.
Investors, however, are getting nervous over the multiple extensions by Trump that appear to be circumventing established law.
They fear there might come a point when Congress says enough.
Also, China wants to retain a minority stake in the company and ownership of the all-important app that keeps users engaged by offering them a nonstop supply of preferred videos.
Investors are hearing from China-hawks in Congress — those who really believe the app’s user data is used by the Chinese surveillance state for spy-craft purposes — that even a minority stake by the Chinese might violate the law.
If so, and if they agreed to a deal, these investors could be on the hook for hundreds of billions of dollars of liability if let’s say a less deal-friendly DOJ after Trump leaves office brings a case given the way the ban law is written.
Some private investors are demanding indemnification or their out.
Trump may also be losing patience with the whole TikTok saga. He has touted that he has multiple buyers to create what is essentially a new US company to keep it alive, but people involved in the deal doubt that he will allow Xi to use it as a bargaining chip in the broader trade deal, I am told.
He isn’t going to give up a lot just to keep TikTok alive, they predict.
A White House spokesman had no comment.
TikTok and its estimated 170 million US users got a new lease on life after its once fiercest critic, Trump, pulled a major U-turn. He wanted it banned when he was president the first time, believing it was used by the Chinese surveillance state for nefarious purposes.
More recently, he wanted it saved after he came to believe pro-Trump messaging on the app helped him win in 2024 by turning a swath of TikTok’s youngish users into die-hard MAGA supporters.
Just hours into his second term, Trump overruled bipartisan legislation signed into law by President Biden and upheld by the Trump-friendly Supreme Court that banned the app unless it divested from the Chinese by Jan. 19.
Through executive orders he has extended the life of the app several times since.
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