President Donald Trump said he would be willing to extend the June 19 deadline for ByteDance to sell TikTok’s U.S. assets if a deal was not completed by then. In an NBC News interview recorded at Mar-a-Lago, Trump said he wanted the transaction resolved and argued that the app would be protected, while the sale process remained tied to wider U.S.-China tariff tensions.
Given in the CNN report that after using TikTok to win over young people in the 2024 presidential election, Trump claimed to have a "sweet spot" for the app, saying,
"TikTok is - it's very interesting, but it will be protected."
A rule passed by Congress last year prohibited TikTok from selling the short-form video app if its parent firm, ByteDance, did not. When the restriction went into force in January, TikTok suddenly vanished. Trump then stated that he would postpone the prohibition for ninety days and expressed interest in a joint venture that Americans would own. Reuters stated that The Chinese government, which has to approve the agreement, was
"not very happy about our Reciprocal Tariffs,"
so Trump granted the firm another 75-day delay when the next deadline came around in April. Democratic senators contend that Trump lacks the legal right to extend the deadline and imply that the proposed agreement would not comply with the law.
Citing the economic impact of 145% tariffs on Chinese imports, Trump told NBC News that China was eager to agree.
He stated that he might eventually reduce the tariffs as part of a larger deal, but he would not do so in order to pressure Beijing to the negotiating table.
Unless ByteDance had finished selling up the app's U.S. assets, the legislation mandated that TikTok cease operations by January 19. Trump chose not to implement his second term, which officially began on January 20. The deadline was first moved to early April by him, and then it was moved to June 19 last month
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About the Author
Rabia Majeed covers indices, ETFs, and portfolio construction for TECHi readers building allocations rather than picking single names. Her coverage spans S&P 500 internals, sector-rotation signals, factor premiums (quality, momentum, low-vol), and the cost-basis details — expense ratios, tracking error, tax efficiency — that compound over long holds. She writes about the fund-structure decisions most retail coverage skips.
