President Donald Trump suggested China could get a “little reduction in tariffs” if it helps approve a sale of TikTok in compliance with a U.S. law forcing its Beijing-based owner ByteDance to either divest the app to an American buyer or shut the platform down in the U.S.
Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday that “there are numerous ways you can buy TikTok, and we will find the one that’s best.”
“I’m worried about our country more than anything else with respect to TikTok, and China is going to have to play a role in that, possibly, in the form of an approval, maybe,” he said. “And I think they’ll do that. Maybe I’ll give them a little reduction in tariffs or something to get it done. You know, because every point in tariff is worth more money than TikTok.”
“It sounds like something I’d do,” he added.
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Last April, Congress passed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which gave TikTok nine months to either divest from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or be removed from U.S.-based app stores and hosting services.
The app — which the Trump administration says is used by 170 million Americans — was temporarily removed in January, as no deal was reached.
Trump, on his first day in office, then issued an executive order granting TikTok more time to operate and work toward compliance with the law, pushing the deadline to April 5. The date is three days after April 2, when Trump is expected to announce reciprocal tariff plans.
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Trump said Wednesday that the deadline could be extended if a deal isn’t finished by then.
“We will have a form of a deal. TikTok is very popular, very successful, very good. We’re going to have a form of a deal. But if it’s not finished, it’s not a big deal. We’ll just extend it. I have the right to have the deal and to extend it. If I want. So, we’ll see whether or not we have a deal. We have a lot of interest in TikTok,” the president said.
Trump previously said he would be in favor of X owner Elon Musk or Oracle founder Larry Ellison purchasing the social media app.
Earlier this month, U.S. imports from China, the third-largest U.S. trading partner, were subjected to a new 10% tariff on top of the initial 10% tariff Trump imposed on Chinese goods in February.
FOX Business’ Christina Shaw, Breck Dumas and Eric Revell contributed to this report.
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