'We May Let It Die': Trump Likely To Push Deadline For China's Bytedance On Tiktok Sale Or Divestment

(MENAFN- Live Mint) The Trump administration is expected to again extend a September 17 deadline for China's ByteDance to divest the US assets of short-video app TikTok or shut it down, sources told Reuters as the US-China talks entered second day.

If allowed, it would be the fourth reprieve granted by US President Donald Trump from federal enforcement of a law that originally gave ByteDance until January 2025 to sell or shut down the popular social media platform.

According to Reuters, Trump said last month that he had US buyers lined up for the app and could further extend the deadline. But he was equivocal on Sunday when asked about the app's future.

"I may or may not, we're negotiating TikTok right now. We may let it die, or we may, I don't know, it depends, up to China," Trump was quoted as saying. "It doesn't matter too much. I'd like to do it for the kids," he added.

Sources said a deal is not expected before September 17.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the expected extension.

If the extension is granted, it would suggest a reluctance to shut down an app used by 170 million Americans.

US and Chinese representatives discussed TikTok, trade and the economy during a day of high-level talks in Madrid, a senior Treasury official told Bloomberg, as diplomacy between the world's two biggest economies intensifies.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer began trade talks with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and China's top trade negotiator, Li Chenggang, in Spain on Sunday.

While China hawks in Washington have long feared Beijing could harness TikTok to spy on, blackmail or censor Americans, Trump has said he wants to save the app.

Progress on a deal has been slow, with any sharing of TikTok's prized algorithm with a US buyer requiring approval from Beijing.

A deal had been in the works in the spring. It would have spun off TikTok's US operations into a new US-based firm, majority-owned and operated by US investors, but was put on hold after China indicated it would not approve it following Trump's announcements of steep tariffs on Chinese goods.

TikTok was not discussed in previous rounds of US-China trade talks in Geneva, London and Stockholm.

The source said TikTok's public inclusion as an agenda item when the Treasury announced the latest talks gives the Trump administration political cover for another extension, which may annoy both Republicans and Democrats in Congress who mandated TikTok's sale.

Trump began his second term as president on January 20 and opted not to enforce the law requiring TikTok's U.S. asset sale or shut down. He first extended the deadline to early April, then from May to June, and a third time to September.

(With inputs from Reuters)

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