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By David Shepardson and Katie Paul
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday seeking to delay for 75 days the implementation of a ban on the short-form video app TikTok that was scheduled to be shut down on January 19.
While signing the order, Trump urged the US government to own TikTok’s American business to keep the app alive and warned that he could impose tariffs on China if Beijing fails to accept the deal. US and TikTok.
The executive order took 48 hours of legal control and political intrigue that left millions of US TikTokkers struggling to find answers about the fate of their device.
The drama began on Saturday when the short video app used by 170 million Americans was taken offline for users shortly before a law that said it must be sold by its Chinese owner ByteDance for reasons of The national security, or ban, goes into effect on Sunday.
The next day Trump said he had plans to “Save TikTok”. Within hours, the company began restoring its service in the United States, thanking the soon-to-be President for giving assurances to TikTok and its business partners that they will not face heavy penalties to keep the device running.
The app and website were live on Monday, but TikTok is not yet available for download on the Apple (NASDAQ:) and Google app stores.
Trump’s order, signed hours after his inauguration on Monday, echoes his earlier promises and instructs the attorney general not to enforce the law to give his team time “to figure out what’s right about TikTok.”
But the validity of the Trump administration’s order is unclear. The desegregation law was passed by a majority in Congress, signed by President Joe Biden, and supported by a unanimous Supreme Court.
The law also does not give Trump the power to extend the deadline unless ByteDance has “binding agreements” to sell TikTok and it is not clear that such agreements exist.
ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
Representative Frank Pallone said Trump’s order is “a reversal of the national security law passed by a partisan majority in Congress.”
HAPPY RELATIONS WITH CHINA
The controversy surrounding TikTok comes at a time of strain in US-China relations. Trump has said he is willing to impose tariffs on China but has also indicated he hopes to have direct talks with China’s leader.
While signing the executive order on Monday evening, Trump said he “could see” the US government taking a 50% stake in TikTok and as part of that stake, the US could police the site.
Trump added that if the agreement is not accepted by China, “there is no value. So if we create that value, why shouldn’t we like half?” He said the company is worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
The US has never banned a major social media platform. A law passed last year gives the Trump administration the power to block or require the sale of certain Chinese equipment.
Keeping Trump on TikTok represents a change in terms of his first term in office. In 2020, he unsuccessfully sought to ban the app — along with Tencent’s WeChat — on the grounds that the company shared personal information about Americans with the Chinese government.
Recently, Trump said that he has “a warm place in my heart for TikTok,” saying that the tool has helped him win new voters in the 2024 presidential election.
Later in 2020, Trump blessed a new strategic partnership with the owners of Walmart (NYSE: ) and Oracle (NYSE: ) agreeing to take ownership of the new company.
Trump said the deal would include companies paying a US$5 billion education fund as part of the deal. Eventually the deal fell through.
It would be unthinkable for the US government to demand an equity stake in a major company in exchange for a license to continue exploitation.
Trump’s comments also did not address whether ByteDance or other Chinese companies would be allowed to own a stake in TikTok or if the deal would address US national security concerns over data. of US users.
The order directs the Justice Department to issue letters to companies such as Apple, Alphabet (NASDAQ:)’s Google and Oracle that provide services to TikTok “claiming no wrongdoing and no liability for of any conduct occurred during the above-mentioned period.”
It remains unclear whether Trump’s order will be enough to convince Alphabet’s Google and Apple to return the device to US stores.
The announcement came as China indicated for the first time that it would be open to the process that keeps TikTok active in the US.
Asked about the return of the device and Trump’s desire to make a deal, China’s foreign ministry told a regular news briefing on Monday that it believed companies should “decide independently” about and their performance and agreements.
It echoed similar sentiments Tuesday when asked about the Trump administration order.
