The US has found a prospective buyer for TikTok amid continued security concerns over its connection with China. US President Donald Trump revealed on Sunday that the transaction involved a group of “very wealthy people” without naming them — voicing hope that Chinese President Xi Jinping would greenlight the transaction. The development came days after the POTUS extended the deadline for China-based ByteDance to divest the US assets of TikTok for the third time.
“We have a buyer for TikTok, by the way. I think I’ll need probably China’s approval. I think President Xi will probably do it,” he told Fox News during an interview broadcast on Sunday.
A 2024 US law required TikTok to stop operating by January 19 unless ByteDance had completed divesting the app’s U.S. assets or demonstrated significant progress toward a sale. A deal had been in the works this spring that would have spun off TikTok’s U.S. operations into a new U.S.-based firm, majority-owned and operated by U.S. investors. But it was put on hold after China indicated it would not approve it following Trump’s announcement of steep tariffs on Chinese goods.
Trump also revealed during the interview on Sunday that the US administration had no plans to extend the ongoing 90 day pause on tariffs beyond July 9. The negotiation period outlined three months earlier will expire next week — with the Trump government set to notify countries that the trade penalties will take effect unless there are deals with the United States.
“We’ll look at how a country treats us — are they good, are they not so good — some countries we don’t care, we’ll just send a high number out,” Trump told Fox News.
He indicated that letters would start going out “pretty soon” before the approaching deadline. These missives would say: “Congratulations, we’re allowing you to shop in the United States of America, you’re going to pay a 25% tariff, or a 35% or a 50% or 10%.”
(With inputs from agencies)