Washington: President Donald Trump said on Sunday that a group of buyers had been found for Tiktok, who faces an imminent ban in the United States due to his links in China, adding that he could appoint buyers in two weeks.
“We have a buyer for Tiktok, by the way,” said Trump in an interview on Fox Sunday morning future with Maria Bartiromo.
“Very rich people. It is a group of rich people,” said the president, without revealing more, except to say that he would make their identity known “in about two weeks”.
The president also said that he would probably need “China approval” for sale “, and I think President Xi (Jinping) probably will do it.”
Tiktok belongs to the Internet company based in China Bytedance.
A federal law requiring the sale or prohibition of Tiktok on national security reasons was to take effect the day before Trump’s inauguration on January 20. But the Republican, whose electoral campaign in 2024 was strongly based on social networks and who said that he loved Tiktok, put the break of the break.
In mid-June, Trump extended a deadline for the popular video sharing of video for an additional 90 days to find a non-Chinese buyer or be prohibited in the United States.
Technological experts quickly described the Tiktok Kerfuffle as a symbol of the heated technical rivalry of American China.
While Trump has long supported a ban or disinvestment, he reversed his position and promised to defend the platform – which has nearly two billion global users – after believing that it helped him gain the support of young voters in the November elections.
“I have a little warm place in my heart for Tiktok,” said Trump NBC News In early May. “If he needs an extension, I would be ready to give him an extension.”
Now, after two extensions pushed the deadline until June 19, Trump extended it for the third time.
He said in May that a group of buyers was ready to pay bydance “a lot of money” for Tiktok American operations.
The previous month, he declared that China would have accepted an agreement on the sale of Tiktok if it was not for a dispute on Trump’s prices on Beijing.
Bytedance confirmed talks with the American government, saying that key issues should be resolved and that any agreement would be “subject to approval under Chinese law”.
