WASHINGTON, D.C. — US President Donald Trump mentioned on Wednesday that he might propose lowering tariffs on China with the aim of getting Beijing’s consent for the sale of the widely used social media app TikTok.
“Perhaps I offer them some slight tariff reductions or something similar to make it happen,” he said to journalists at the White House.
Earlier this month, Trump mentioned that the United States was negotiating with four different entities keen on purchasing TikTok, leaving the app’s prospects in the country unclear.
A U.S. law has mandated that TikTok must sell off its stake owned by ByteDance or face being outlawed within the country. This decision was made due to worries that China might use this video-sharing app to gather intelligence on American citizens or subtly manipulate public sentiment in the United States.
The legislation came into force on January 19, one day prior to Trump’s inauguration. However, he swiftly declared a postponement of the law, enabling it to keep operating.
The said delay will end on April 5th.
“We will be entering into some sort of agreement,” Trump stated, mentioning that should the timing not work out, he would prolong the deadline.
I believe China will need to participate in that process, potentially through some form of endorsement, and I expect them to do so.
In his initial time at the helm of the White House, Trump also tried to prohibit TikTok within the United States due to worries about national security.
In January, TikTok was briefly suspended in the United States and vanished from app stores as the deadline for the legislation loomed, much to the disappointment of millions of users.
After starting his second term on January 20, Trump paused its execution for two-and-a-half months in an attempt to find a resolution with Beijing.
Later, TikTok resumed operations in the United States and was reinstated in both the Apple and Google app stores in February.
The AI startup Perplexity has recently shown interest in acquiring TikTok.
In a blog post, Perplexity outlined a plan to integrate its AI-driven web search features with the widely-used video-clipping application.
“The San Francisco-based company argued that merging Perplexity’s question-answering tool with TikTok’s vast video collection could result in the creation of the premier search experience globally,” they explained.
Even though TikTok doesn’t seem particularly eager about selling the app, possible purchasers encompass an effort known as “The People’s Bid for TikTok.” This campaign was initiated by Frank McCourt’s Project Liberty venture, which has interests in both real estate and sports.
Other contenders include Microsoft, Oracle, and a consortium featuring internet celebrity MrBeast, known as Jimmy Donaldson.
“As per Perplexity’s statement, a group of investors acquiring TikTok could potentially allow ByteDance to retain control over the algorithm. However, an acquisition by another major player might lead to a dominant position for them within the realm of short-form videos and informational content,” he argued in the blog post.
Society as a whole thrives when content feeds are freed from the control of foreign governments and global conglomerates.