WASHINGTON, April 4 (Xinhua) -- US President Donald Trump said on social media Friday that he would grant ByteDance an additional 75-day extension to either sell the popular video-sharing app TikTok to a non-Chinese company or risk being banned in the United States.
“My Administration has been working very hard on a Deal to SAVE TIKTOK, and we have made tremendous progress," Trump said in a post on Truth Social, according to Xinhua news agency.
“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," Trump said.
"We hope to continue working in Good Faith with China," he continued.
In his first term, Trump signed an executive order effectively seeking to ban the app in the United States unless ByteDance sold its US operations to an American company, but the order didn't go into effect amid legal challenges.
In April 2024, then US President Joe Biden signed a law that gave ByteDance 270 days to sell TikTok, citing unfounded national security concerns. If the company failed to comply, the law would require app store operators such as Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their platforms starting on Jan 19, 2025.
Trump, who took office on Jan 20, previously signed an executive order to delay the TikTok ban by 75 days "to permit my Administration an opportunity to determine the appropriate course of action with respect to TikTok." That extension was set to expire on April 5.
-- BERNAMA-XINHUA
