TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, has to sell its social media platform’s U.S. assets by June 19. It comes as the U.S. and China continue high-level trade negotiations.
TikTok Sale
President Donald Trump has extended the sale deadline twice so far, and he could implement a third extension.
Former President Joe Biden signed legislation last year giving ByteDance until Jan. 19, 2025, to divest TikTok or face a potential U.S. ban. Lawmakers have cited national security concerns, saying the company could be compelled to share user data with the Chinese government. ByteDance has denied those allegations and did not sell the app.
In January, TikTok went dark in the U.S. for about 12 hours before service was restored. Following that outage, Trump granted a 75-day extension, followed by another in April.
While the president has the authority to grant an additional extension, it remains unclear whether he will. In an interview with NBC News last month, Trump said, “I would,” when asked if he would consider another extension if a deal had not been reached.
Several major U.S. companies — including Amazon, Oracle and Project Liberty — have expressed interest in acquiring TikTok. High-profile individuals such as Kevin O’Leary, Alexis Ohanian and YouTube personality MrBeast have also shown interest.
TikTok generated approximately $16 billion in U.S. revenue in 2024.
Trade Talks
Any sale of TikTok would require approval from the Chinese government, which in April said it would not support a deal following Trump’s announcement of new tariffs.
However, on Wednesday, June 11, Trump announced that the two countries had reached a trade agreement. After days of negotiations in London, both sides announced that they had reached a deal for a new framework.
Trump shared limited details about the agreement on social media, saying it is subject to final approval by both him and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“Full magnets, and any necessary rare earths, will be supplied, up front, by China,” Trump said. “Likewise, we will provide to China what was agreed to, including Chinese students using our colleges and universities.”
“We hope that the progress made in this London meeting will help further enhance trust between China and the United States, further promote the stable and healthy development of China-US economic and trade relations, and inject positive energy into global economic development,” Chinese trade representative Li Chenggang said.
On Wednesday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent testified before the House Ways and Means Committee, emphasizing the importance of accountability in future trade relations.
“(China) needs to be a reliable partner in trade negotiations,” Bessent said. “If China will course-correct by upholding its end of the initial trade agreement we outlined in Geneva last month, then a big, beautiful rebalancing of the world’s two largest economies is possible.”
