President Trump’s plan to secure a US buyer for TikTok was “finalized” earlier this week — before his announcement of global tariffs scrapped the deal, a source familiar with the talks told The Post.
By Wednesday, White House officials had worked out an arrangement for Trump to sign an executive order authorizing the sale of the social media app from its Chinese parent company ByteDance to a company majority-owned by US investors.
That would have moved the Beijing-based firm into a minority-ownership position, in line with legislation forcing the qualified divestment that had been passed by Congress and signed by then-President Joe Biden.
It also would have extended a Saturday deadline for the sale by another four months to figure out the financing and complete required paperwork.
But Trump’s decision to follow through on his sweeping tariff plan — with additional 34% duties on China — prompted ByteDance reps to call off the deal until China and the US hold talks about future trade and tariffs.
Vice President JD Vance had led discussions on the Tiktok sale for months, courting several American investors — including Oracle, Amazon and even adult content hosting site OnlyFans.
Other US companies and long-shot bidders — including Wyoming media entrepreneur Reid Rasner, whose $50 million offer got a boost on Truth Social from Trump — have expressed interest in acquiring TikTok.
Roughly 170 million Americans have an account on the popular social networking site, which serves up short videos to users — but has come under fire from national security hawks for sharing its algorithm and other data with its Chinese parent company.
The president has suggested shares of TikTok could be held by a planned US sovereign wealth fund.
A rep for ByteDance confirmed Friday that the company “has been in discussion with the U.S. Government regarding a potential solution for TikTok U.S. An agreement has not been executed. There are key matters to be resolved. Any agreement will be subject to approval under Chinese law.”
Trump announced earlier Friday that the deadline for TikTok’s sale would be [ushed back a further 75 days from Saturday, following his “Liberation Day” declaration of reciprocal tariffs on China and other trade partners.
“The Deal requires more work to ensure all necessary approvals are signed,” he posted on Truth Social. “We hope to continue working in Good Faith with China, who I understand are not very happy about our Reciprocal Tariffs (Necessary for Fair and Balanced Trade between China and the U.S.A.!).”
“This proves that Tariffs are the most powerful Economic tool, and very important to our National Security! We do not want TikTok to ‘go dark,’” he added. “We look forward to working with TikTok and China to close the Deal. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
The president slapped an average of 21.1% tariffs on China during his first term and had already hit Beijing with 25% duties last month due to its implication in providing precursor chemicals for the production of fentanyl.
