US President Donald Trump on Thursday declared that a deal for TikTok satisfied the requirements of the US’ sale-or-ban law for the Chinese-owned short-video app, punctuating months of deliberations and years of angst in Washington over the app’s security implications.
“We have very good controls,” Trump said at the Oval Office on Thursday while signing an executive order on TikTok’s US operations, adding that Chinese President Xi Jinping had given him the “go ahead” on a deal in their call last week.
The timeline for the deal with Beijing is unclear, and Chinese officials have signalled it was not imminent. The two sides reached a “framework” for one during trade talks earlier this month in Madrid, where Chinese cyberspace official Wang Jingtao noted it could involve a licensing component for the app’s algorithm.
Asked on Thursday whether he was concerned about the algorithm’s security concerns, Trump said he was not because “it’s owned by Americans, and very sophisticated Americans”.
Trump last week signed an executive order to push the deadline for enforcing the TikTok law to mid-December, extending it for the fourth time. On Thursday, he is expected to extend that deadline for another 120 days.
Last year, then-US President Joe Biden signed into law a bill requiring TikTok to be sold or banned if a “foreign adversary” retained control – defined as a stake of 20 per cent or more. For years, Washington lawmakers have warned that TikTok’s ownership makes it beholden to the Chinese government and that Beijing could use the app to spy on Americans or conduct influence operations. The law set a January deadline and allowed for a one-time extension if “significant” progress towards a sale was evident, but Trump has repeatedly delayed its enforcement.
