As China says open to deal, TikTok awaits Trump relief Reuters

By Kenneth Lee and Katie Paul

(Reuters) – TikTok was waiting for an executive order to allow more time to reach a deal after President Donald Trump’s return to power on Monday, after China signaled it would be open for business to keep the app in the U.S. market.

The short video service, used by 170 million Americans, was briefly taken offline for US users on Saturday, hours before a law requiring its Chinese owner ByteDance to be sold on national security grounds took effect on Sunday. US officials have said there is a risk of Americans’ data being misused under ByteDance.

TikTok restored access on Sunday and thanked Trump for assuring TikTok and its business partners that they would not face severe penalties for keeping the app running. The app and website went live on Monday, but TikTok still isn’t available for download in Apple’s (NASDAQ:) and Google’s (NASDAQ: ) app stores, suggesting the two companies are waiting for clearer legal approvals.

“The truth is, we have no choice. We have to save,” Trump said at a rally on Sunday, saying he wanted to work together to restore the app that half of Americans used.

TikTok CEO Xu Zichew attended the inauguration and attended a service with Trump at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington on Monday. Chew joins a host of Big Tech CEOs, including Amazon.com (NASDAQ: ) founder Jeff Bezos, Meta (NASDAQ: ) CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

The company sponsored Sunday’s graduation party organized by organizers of conservative youth and dating groups.

Trump previously said he would issue an executive order to ban TikTok after taking office, which TikTok said in a notice posted on the app to users.

That announcement signaled that China would be open to a deal to get TikTok to operate in the US for the first time.

Asked about the renewal of the application and the Trump deal, China’s foreign ministry told a regular news briefing on Monday that it believes companies should “make their own decisions” about their operations and deals.

“TikTok has worked in America for many years and is very popular with American users,” said Mao Ning, a spokesman for the ministry. “We hope the United States can listen diligently to the voice of reason and provide an open, fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for companies operating there.”

‘Saving TikTok’

The debate over TikTok comes at a time of heightened tension in US-China relations. While Trump has said he intends to impose tariffs on China, he has also signaled his hope for more direct relations with the Chinese leader.

Trump’s rescue represents a reversal of TikTok’s status quo during his first term in office. In the year In 2020, the company considered banning the app over concerns that it was sharing Americans’ personal data with the Chinese government. Recently, Trump said he has a “warm spot in my heart” for TikTok, saying it helped him win over young voters in the 2024 presidential election.

In the year In August 2020, Trump signed an executive order giving ByteDance 90 days to sell TikTok, but instead blessed a deal structured as a partnership rather than including both Oracle (NYSE: ) and Walmart (NYSE: ) who would take stakes in the new venture. Company.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk, a major donor and close adviser to Trump, indicated on Sunday that he would like to see any Tik Tok talks in China about getting concessions for US social media services, including the platform formerly known as Twitter.

“I have been against the banning of TikTok for a long time, because it is against freedom of speech. The current situation is that TikTok is allowed to operate in the US, but X is not allowed to operate in China. It is not balanced, it needs something to change,” Field wrote on X’s post.

Not everyone in Trump’s Republican Party agreed with his efforts to pursue the law and “save TikTok.”

Republican Senators Tom and Pete Ricketts said in a joint statement: “Now that the law is in place, any ‘extension’ of the effective date has no legal basis. TikTok needs ByteDance to come online in the future. By severing ties between TikTok and Communist China, the law qualifies A sale that satisfies the foreign sourcing requirements is agreed upon.

The United States has not banned a major social media platform. The legislation passed by Congress would give the incoming Trump administration the power to ban or require the sale of other Chinese-owned apps.