US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that he is willing to lower tariffs on China if it helps reach a deal with TikTok‘s Chinese owner, ByteDance, to sell the popular app, that is used by 170 million Americans.
ByteDance has until April 5 to find a non-Chinese buyer for TikTok or face a US ban due to national security concerns. This ban was originally set to begin in January under a 2024 law. Trump also said that he would be open to extending the deadline if a deal isn’t reached by then.
Trump told reporters that regarding TikTok, China will likely need to play a part, possibly by giving approval, and he believes that they will do so. “Maybe I’ll give them a little reduction in tariffs or something to get it done,” Trump said.
Getting China to agree to give up control of TikTok, has always been the biggest challenge in reaching a deal. And Trump has used tariffs as leverage in these TikTok talks before.
Trump, on his first day in Oval office, had warned China that he could impose tariffs if Beijing didn’t approve a US deal with TikTok. Earlier this month, he raised tariffs on all imports from China to 20%, up from 10% in February.
Vice President JD Vance has stated that he expects an agreement on TikTok’s ownership to be reached by April 5.
The future of TikTok has been uncertain since a law was passed that required ByteDance to sell TikTok by January 19. The app was briefly taken down in January after the US Supreme Court upheld the ban, but it returned days later when Trump took office. He quickly issued an order delaying the law’s enforcement to April 5 and mentioned he could extend the deadline further to help finalise the deal.
(With Reuters Inputs)