Top Story: Trump Extends TikTok Deadline for Second Time, Giving App Another 75 Days to Seal a Deal
April 7, 2025 — President Donald Trump has once again stepped in to delay a looming ban on TikTok, granting the popular video-sharing app a second 75-day extension to finalize a sale of its U.S. operations. The announcement, made late Friday on Truth Social, pushes the deadline from April 5 to mid-June, keeping the app alive for its 170 million American users as negotiations with potential buyers—and a bristling Chinese government—hit new snags amid Trump’s tariff rollout.
“My Administration has been working very hard on a Deal to SAVE TIKTOK, and we have made tremendous progress,” Trump posted. “The Deal requires more work to ensure all necessary approvals are signed, which is why I am signing an Executive Order to keep TikTok up and running for an additional 75 days.” The move marks the second time this year Trump has used executive authority to sidestep a 2024 congressional law mandating that TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, divest its U.S. assets by January 19 or face a ban over national security concerns. His first extension came on Inauguration Day, January 20, when he granted a 75-day reprieve just as the app flickered offline for 14 hours.
The latest delay follows a tumultuous week. On Wednesday, a deal to spin off TikTok’s U.S. operations into an American-majority-owned entity—backed by investors like Oracle, Blackstone, and Amazon—seemed imminent. Vice President JD Vance, tasked with leading the talks, had told NBC News last month that a framework satisfying security concerns was near. But Trump’s April 2 tariff bombshell—a 34% levy on Chinese goods among others—upended the plan. ByteDance informed the White House Thursday that China, incensed by the tariffs, would no longer approve the sale unless tariff relief was on the table, according to sources cited by CNN and Reuters. Beijing retaliated Friday with its own 34% duties on U.S. imports, further clouding the deal’s future.
Trump framed the extension as a strategic flex, tying it to his trade agenda. “We hope to continue working in Good Faith with China, who I understand are not very happy about our Reciprocal Tariffs,” he wrote, adding, “This proves that Tariffs are the most powerful Economic tool, and very important to our National Security!” The president has floated reducing China’s tariffs—set to hit 54% on April 10—as leverage to secure Beijing’s blessing, a notion he reiterated aboard Air Force One Sunday. Yet critics, including Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), a co-author of the TikTok law, argue Trump’s delays flout Congress’s intent. “No more excuses—it’s time to comply,” Krishnamoorthi said Friday.
The stakes are high. TikTok’s cultural clout—credited by Trump for aiding his 2024 youth vote surge—clashes with fears of Chinese data harvesting, upheld unanimously by the Supreme Court last year. Potential buyers, from Frank McCourt’s Project Liberty to a last-minute Amazon bid, remain in the wings, but the deal hinges on China’s nod, which now seems tethered to broader U.S.-China trade talks. For now, Trump’s extension keeps TikTok dancing, but as markets reel from his tariffs and the clock ticks toward June, the app’s fate—and his tariff gambit—hangs in the balance. Posts on X laud the reprieve—“Thank you Trump!!!” one user cheered—but the question lingers: can he thread this needle, or will TikTok’s U.S. saga finally go dark?
