China filed a lawsuit against the United States with the World Trade Organization over recently imposed tariffs and issued its own 10% tariff on U.S. goods. China also issued tariffs against Canada to apply pressure to the U.S.
“Maybe I’ll give them a little reduction in tariffs or something to get it done,” Trump said during a press conference Wednesday. “TikTok is big, but every point in tariffs is worth more than TikTok.”
Lawmakers have long opposed TikTok’s algorithm because the app’s parent company, ByteDance, has ties to the Chinese Communist Party. While the TikTok ban went into effect as expected on Jan. 19, hours after the app stopped service in the U.S., Trump gave the company a new deadline of April 5 to divest.
“We’re going to have a form of a deal, but if it’s not finished, it’s not a big deal,” Trump said.
“We’ll just extend it.”
TikTok thanked Trump for giving “the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans.”
Trump said he has “good experience” with TikTok since joining the platform during his campaign. Less than a week after joining, Trump promised he “will never ban TikTok.” Since then, the president has gained over 14 million followers.
CHINA SLAPS TARIFFS ON CANADA FOR LEVERAGE AGAINST US
TikTok hadn’t pursued divestiture when then-President Joe Biden signed the ban into law, and it opted to challenge the ban legally. However, the Supreme Court ruled the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act did not violate the platform’s First Amendment rights.
When billionaire social media giants like YouTuber Mr. Beast and X owner Elon Musk teased buying the platform, TikTok spokesman Michael Hughes referred to the offers as “pure fiction.”
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