New Delhi: It’s been 162 days since the United States passed a law banning TikTok unless its Chinese owner ByteDance sells its U.S. operations. Yet, the app continues to run, thanks to repeated delays by President Donald Trump, who seems to have changed his stance since his first term. He now claims to have “a warm spot” for the app and has pushed back the deadline again; the latest extension moves the deadline to 17 September 2025.
Now, Trump says a buyer is finally ready. But the deal still needs to go through one last hurdle, approval from Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Trump says buyer locked, deal announcement in “two weeks”
In an interview with Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures”, Trump said a deal is close and that he’ll be ready to talk about it soon.
“We have a buyer for TikTok by the way,” Trump said. “I think I’ll need probably China approval, and I think President Xi will probably do it, you know?”
He added that he’ll have more to share in “about two weeks”, hinting at some big names who are ready to invest in the U.S. part of TikTok. While Trump didn’t name anyone, the names being floated around include Oracle’s Larry Ellison, investor groups like BlackRock and Andreessen Horowitz, and even YouTuber MrBeast.
In April, The Information reported that a possible new company, “TikTok America”, would be created for this very purpose. The plan said that this entity would be half-owned by a U.S. consortium and leave ByteDance with a 19.9% stake.
Trump’s back-and-forth
The app’s future in the U.S. has been uncertain for over a year now. Congress passed a law forcing ByteDance to sell TikTok, claiming the app posed national security risks. Lawmakers argued that U.S. user data might be accessed by China. TikTok denied all such claims and challenged the law in court, but lost its appeal at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Still, enforcement has been repeatedly pushed back, mostly by Trump himself. Critics say this move overrides Congress and confuses the status of the law. Many expected TikTok to be gone from U.S. app stores by now, but that hasn’t happened.
Despite all the legal noise, TikTok continues to operate as normal. The reason? Trump’s delays and executive orders. His tone toward the app seems softer now, especially since he credits TikTok as playing a role in his 2024 campaign success.
What’s next?
It all now depends on whether the proposed deal will get greenlit by the Chinese side. Trump seems confident that Xi will approve the move. Whether that’s wishful thinking or based on private talks remains unclear.
Till then, TikTok users in the U.S. can keep scrolling. But the bigger question remains: who will actually end up owning the app’s American version, and how much control will ByteDance keep?
The countdown to September has begun- again.