Written by David Shepardson and Katie Paul
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday seeking a 75-day delay in enforcing a ban on the short-form video app TikTok that was due to be shut down on January 19.
While signing the order, Trump suggested that the United States government should own part of TikTok’s American business to keep the app alive and warned that he could impose tariffs on China if Beijing fails to approve the US deal with TikTok.
The executive order capped 48 hours of legal backlash and political intrigue that left millions of American TikTokers scrambling for answers about the fate of their app.
The drama began on Saturday when a short-form video app used by 170 million Americans was pulled online from users just before a law requiring its Chinese owner ByteDance to be sold on national security grounds, or banned, took effect on Sunday.
The next day Trump said he had plans to “save TikTok”. Within a few hours, the company began to restore its service in the US, thanks to the soon-to-be-inaugurated President for giving assurances to TikTok and its business partners that they will not face large fines to keep the app running.
The app and website were live on Monday, but TikTok is still not available for download on the Apple (NASDAQ:) and Google app stores.
Trump’s order, signed hours after his inauguration on Monday, echoes his previous promises and instructs the attorney general not to use the law to give his party time to “decide the appropriate course of action regarding TikTok.”
But the legality of Trump’s decision is unclear. The legislation requiring the release of funds was passed by major figures in Congress, signed by President Joe Biden, and upheld by a dissenting Supreme Court.
The law also does not give Trump the authority to extend the deadline unless ByteDance has “binding agreements” to sell TikTok and it is not clear what those agreements are.
ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
Representative Frank Pallone said Trump’s order “overrides national security legislation passed by a bipartisan majority in Congress.”
DANGEROUS RELATIONS WITH CHINA
The debate over TikTok comes at a tense time in US-China relations. Trump has said he intends to impose tariffs on China but has also indicated that he hopes to communicate directly with China’s leader.
When he signed the executive order on Monday evening, Trump said he could “see” the US government taking a 50% stake in TikTok and as part of that stake, the US could police the site.
Trump added that if the deal is not approved by China, “there is no benefit. So if we create that value, why don’t we have the right to like half?” He said the company could be worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
The US has never blocked a major social media platform. A law passed last year gives the Trump administration broad authority to block or require the sale of some Chinese-owned software.
Trump’s rescue of TikTok represents a reversal of his first position in office. In 2020, he unsuccessfully sought to block the app — and Tencent’s WeChat — over concerns that the company was sharing Americans’ personal information with the Chinese government.
Recently, Trump said he “has a warm place in my heart for TikTok,” crediting the app for helping him win over younger voters in the 2024 presidential election.
Later in 2020, Trump approved a new ownership structure agreement with Walmart (NYSE: ) and Oracle (NYSE: ) agreeing to participate in the new company.
Trump said the deal would involve companies paying $5 billion into the U.S. education fund as part of the deal. The deal eventually fell apart.
It would be unprecedented for the US government to demand an equity stake in a major company in order to approve its continued use.
Trump’s comments also did not address whether ByteDance or other Chinese entities would be allowed to participate in TikTok or if the deal would address US national security concerns about US users’ data.
The order directs the Department of Justice to issue letters to companies such as Apple, Alphabet (NASDAQ:) Google and Oracle that provide services to TikTok “stating that no violation of the law and no liability for any conduct occurred during the period described above.”
It is unclear whether Trump’s order will be enough to convince Google and Alphabet’s Apple to return the app to stores in the United States.
That announcement came as China indicated for the first time that it would be open to a deal that would keep TikTok operating in the US.
When asked about the return of the operating system and Trump’s desire for a deal, China’s Foreign Ministry told a regular news conference on Monday that it believed companies should “decide independently” about their operations and agreements.
It made similar comments on Tuesday when asked about Trump’s order.
