TikTok awaits Trump reprieve as China signals it is open to a deal

By Kenneth Li and Katie Paul

(Reuters) -TikTok awaited an executive order granting it more time to strike a deal after President Donald Trump returned to power on Monday, as China signaled it would be open to a transaction to keep the app in the U.S. market.

The short video service used by 170 million Americans was briefly taken offline for U.S. users on Saturday, hours before a law that said it must be sold by its Chinese owner ByteDance on national security grounds took effect on Sunday. U.S. officials had said that under ByteDance, there was a risk of Americans’ data being misused.

TikTok restored access on Sunday and thanked Trump for providing assurances to TikTok and its business partners that they would not face hefty fines to keep the app running. The app and website were operational on Monday, but TikTok was still not available for download in the Apple (NASDAQ:) and Google (NASDAQ:) app stores, suggesting the two companies were waiting for clearer legal assurances. 

“Frankly, we have no choice. We have to save it,” Trump said at a rally on Sunday ahead of his inauguration, adding that the U.S. will seek a joint venture to restore the app used by half of Americans.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew attended the inauguration, as well as a service at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington with Trump on Monday. Chew was joined by several Big Tech chief executives including Amazon.com (NASDAQ:) founder Jeff Bezos, Meta (NASDAQ:) CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

The company also sponsored an inauguration party Sunday, hosted by the organizers of conservative youth and dating groups.

Trump earlier said he will issue an executive order to give TikTok a reprieve from the ban after he takes office, a promise TikTok cited in a notice posted to users on the app.

That announcement came as China indicated for the first time it would be open to a transaction keeping TikTok operating in the U.S.  

When asked about the app’s restoration and Trump’s desire for a deal, China’s foreign ministry told a regular news briefing on Monday that it believed companies should “decide independently” about their operations and deals.

“TikTok has operated in the U.S. for many years and is deeply loved by American users,” ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said. “We hope that the U.S. can earnestly listen to the voice of reason and provide an open, fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for firms operating there.”

‘SAVING TIKTOK’

The debate over TikTok comes at a tense moment in U.S.-China relations. Trump has said he intends to place tariffs on China but has also indicated he hopes to have more direct contact with China’s leader.

Trump saving TikTok represents a reversal in stance from his first term in office. In 2020, he aimed to ban the app over concerns the company was sharing Americans’ personal info with the Chinese government. More recently, Trump has said he has “a warm spot in my heart for TikTok,” crediting the app with helping him win over young voters in the 2024 presidential election.

In August 2020, Trump signed an executive order giving ByteDance 90 days to sell TikTok but then blessed a deal structured as a partnership rather than a divestment that would have included both Oracle (NYSE:) and Walmart (NYSE:) taking stakes in the new company.

Elon Musk, a major donor and close advisor to Trump this time, indicated on Sunday that he wanted to see any TikTok talks used to secure concessions in China for American social media services, including his platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

“I have been against a TikTok ban for a long time, because it goes against freedom of speech. That said, the current situation where TikTok is allowed to operate in America, but X is not allowed to operate in China is unbalanced. Something needs to change,” Musk wrote in an X post.

Not everyone in Trump’s Republican Party agreed with efforts to get around the law and “Save TikTok.”

Republican senators Tom and Pete Ricketts said in a joint statement: “Now that the law has taken effect, there is no legal basis for any kind of ‘extension’ of its effective date. For TikTok to come back online in the future, ByteDance must agree to a sale that satisfies the law’s qualified-divestiture requirements by severing all ties between TikTok and Communist China.”      

The U.S. has never banned a major social media platform. The law passed overwhelmingly by Congress gives the incoming Trump administration sweeping authority to ban or seek the sale of other Chinese-owned apps.