Trump: Decision on TikTok in US still dependent on China

Washington [US]: President Donald Trump said the future of TikTok in the United States remains uncertain, stressing that China will play a decisive role as negotiations move forward.

“We’re negotiating TikTok right now. We may let it go, or we may not — it depends on China,” Trump told reporters in New Jersey before returning to Washington. “I’d like to do it for the kids; they like it. Selfishly speaking, I did very well with TikTok. I got the youth vote and numbers Republicans have never seen before.”

According to The New York Times, Trump faces a September 17 deadline to either enforce or delay a law requiring TikTok’s separation from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or risk a nationwide ban. The president has already postponed the measure three times.

Congress passed the bipartisan law last year, citing national security concerns over TikTok’s ties to China. Lawmakers said the app must be sold to a non-Chinese owner to continue operating in the US.

Negotiations, however, remain strained amid broader trade tensions. Earlier this year, Trump raised tariffs on Chinese imports to 145 percent, before later reducing them to 30 percent. In response, Beijing imposed 10 percent tariffs on US goods.

The standoff escalated last week when China launched an investigation into US-made microchip exports, a day after Washington added several Chinese chipmakers to a trade blacklist. Analysts expect these moves to add pressure to the already fraught talks over TikTok’s future.