In brief
Trump may have lined up wealthy investors to buy TikTok, which faces a looming deadline for sale under U.S. law.
In a recent interview with Fox News, Donald Trump announced he has a group of “very wealthy people” ready to purchase TikTok, the popular video-sharing app currently facing scrutiny in the U.S. due to national security concerns. He jokingly hinted that more details would surface in about two weeks. The platform, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, requires approval from the Chinese government for any sale, yet Trump expressed confidence that President Xi Jinping might agree to it.Just this month, Trump postponed the enforcement of a law mandating the sale of TikTok for the third time, now setting a deadline of September 17 for ByteDance to finalize a deal. A previous attempt to sell TikTok to an American entity fell through in April amid escalating tensions over trade and tariffs between the U.S. and China. The U.S. Congress pushed for the sale last year over fears of U.S. user data potentially being handed over to the Chinese government, which TikTok has strongly denied. While Trump's stance on the app shifted from criticism during his first term to now seeing its potential in his 2024 presidential campaign, he continues to face backlash for delaying the law's enforcement through executive actions. TikTok has also challenged the law's constitutionality but faced setbacks at the Supreme Court.
