President Trump says TikTok negotiations underway as U.S. ban nears
The future of TikTok in the United States may be decided this week.
(CNN)- The future of TikTok in the United States may be decided this week. President Donald Trump said officials from Washington and Beijing are in talks over the popular social media app, which could be banned from American app stores as soon as Wednesday unless a non-Chinese company acquires it.
“They’re negotiating TikTok right now,” Trump said, adding, “We may let it die, or we may, I don’t know. It depends up to China. It doesn’t matter too much.”
The looming ban stems from bipartisan legislation signed into law last year by former President Joe Biden. The law requires TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to divest ownership of the app, citing national security and data privacy concerns.
Despite the law, TikTok remains available in the U.S. because Trump has delayed enforcement three times. Media analyst Brian Stelter noted, “A bipartisan majority in Congress wanted to see this TikTok app either sold, divested, or banned, and yet here it is still online, the better part of a year after that law was put into effect.”
Trump could again use an executive order to postpone the ban, though critics accuse him of abusing presidential power. “His critics say it’s one of the most egregious abuses of presidential power, basically claiming that he has the ability to nullify laws,” Stelter said.
The president has also credited TikTok with helping him win last year’s election, and says he would prefer a deal that keeps the app accessible to Americans.
