President Donald Trump will sign an executive order this week to extend the June 19 deadline for ByteDance to sell TikTok’s U.S. assets by 90 days, the White House said Tuesday.
The extension pushes the deadline to mid-September.
The move comes despite a law requiring TikTok to shut down or be sold unless significant progress had been made by the original deadline. Trump has already granted two extensions since the ban was first scheduled to take effect in January.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration will use the extra time to finalize a deal that ensures American users’ data is secure. She added that Trump wants to keep the app running and will work to complete the sale within the new timeline.
Speaking earlier aboard Air Force One, Trump said he expected the deadline to be extended again and hoped China would approve the move. He said he believes Chinese President Xi Jinping will ultimately support the sale.
In March, Trump said he was open to lowering tariffs on China to help finalize a deal with ByteDance. A potential agreement was being negotiated to spin off TikTok’s U.S. operations into a new company owned and run by American investors, but talks stalled after China objected to new U.S. tariff measures.
Democratic lawmakers have questioned the legal basis for Trump’s extensions and said the current proposal may not satisfy legal requirements set by Congress.
