US President Donald Trump has said he would consider a reduction in tariffs on China if that country’s government approves a sale of TikTok’s operations in the United States.
ByteDance has an April 5 deadline to find a non-Chinese buyer for TikTok or face a U.S. ban on national security grounds that was supposed to have taken effect in January under a 2024 law.
The law is the result of concern in Washington that TikTok's ownership by ByteDance makes it beholden to the Chinese government and that Beijing could use the app to conduct influence operations against the United States and collect data on Americans.
China “is going to have to play a role” in approving a TikTok-related divestiture, Trump said in a press conference Wednesday.
Trump also said he was willing to extend the April deadline if an agreement over the social media app was not reached.
“Maybe I’ll give them a little reduction in tariffs or something to get it done,” Trump said. “TikTok is big, but every point in tariffs is worth more than TikTok.”
The president’s comments came less than two weeks before an April deadline requiring TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance to divest or face a U.S. ban.
But earlier this month, Vice President JD Vance said he was hopeful a deal to keep TikTok operating in the U.S. will be wrapped up by the early April deadline.
NBC News reported that Vance did not offer details on who the potential buyers could be but noted that some issues could push a final agreement past the deadline.
China's commerce ministry said its position on the tariff issue is consistent and that Beijing is willing to engage with Washington on the basis of mutual respect, equality, and mutual benefit, during a regular news conference on Thursday.
