US President Donald Trump indicated on Saturday that he would be willing to lower the tariffs on China if that country permits the Chinese social media app TikTok to sell its US business. ByteDance needs to find a non-Chinese buyer for TikTok by April 5 or face a U.S. ban on national security grounds that was supposed to take effect in January under a 2024 law.
The legislation is the product of concern within Washington that TikTok’s ByteDance ownership makes it beholden to Beijing and that Beijing might use the app to conduct influence operations against the United States and harvest information on Americans. China “is going to have to play a role” in approving a TikTok-related divestiture, Trump told a press conference Wednesday.
Trump also said he was willing to extend the April deadline if an agreement over the social media app was not reached. “Maybe I’ll give them a little reduction in tariffs or something to get it done,” Trump said. “TikTok is big, but every point in tariffs is worth more than TikTok.” The president’s remarks were less than two weeks ahead of an April deadline that calls for TikTok’s China-based parent firm ByteDance to sell off or risk a U.S. ban.
But earlier this month, Vice President JD Vance expressed optimism a deal to maintain TikTok in the U.S. will be completed by the early April deadline. NBC News quoted Vance as giving no insight into potential purchasers but indicating some concerns can be enough to press the deal eventually beyond the deadline.
The ministry of China made it public over the stance that the trade barriers remain steady as it readied Beijing for conducting business under policies of equal status, respect, and reciprocity, in an usual press conference on Thursday.
