President Donald Trump suggested on Tuesday that he would likely extend a deadline for TikTok’s Chinese owner to divest the popular video sharing app.
Trump had signed an order in early April to keep TikTok running for another 75 days after a potential deal to sell the app to American owners was put on ice.
“Probably yeah, yeah,” he responded when asked by reporters on Air Force One whether the deadline would be extended again.
“Probably have to get China approval but I think we’ll get it. I think President Xi will ultimately approve it.”
He indicated in an interview last month with NBC that he would be open to pushing back the deadline again. If announced, it would be the third time Trump has extended the deadline.
The first one was through an executive order on January 20, his first day in office, after the platform went dark briefly when the ban approved by Congress — and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court — took effect.
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The second was in April, when White House officials believed they were nearing a deal to spin off TikTok into a new company with U.S. ownership that fell apart after China backed out following Trump’s tariff announcement.
It is not clear how many times Trump can — or will — keep extending the ban as the government continues to try to negotiate a deal for TikTok, which is owned by China’s ByteDance.
Trump has amassed more than 15 million followers on TikTok since he joined last year, and he has credited the trendsetting platform with helping him gain traction among young voters. He said in January that he has a “warm spot for TikTok.”