The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the expected extension [File]
| Photo credit: Reuters
The Trump administration is expected to again extend a September 17 deadline for China to either shut down or shut down the US short-form video app TikTok, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
This would be the fourth waiver granted by US President Donald Trump from the enforcement of a federal law that initially gave Bytedance until January 2025 to sell or close the popular social media platform.
Last month, Trump said he had US buyers lined up for the app and could extend the deadline further. But he was unequivocal on Sunday when asked about the app’s future.
“I may or may not, we’re in talks with TikTok right now. We may let it die, or, I don’t know, it’s up to China,” Trump told reporters. “It’s not too important. I’d like to do it for the kids.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the expected extension, which, if granted, would suggest a reluctance to shut down the app used by 170 million Americans.
While China hawks in Washington have long feared that Beijing could use TikTok to spy on, blackmail, or censor Americans, Trump has said he wants to keep the app.
Progress on the deal has been slow, and it involved sharing TikTok’s most valuable algorithms with a US buyer that requires Beijing’s approval.
A deal had been in the works in the spring that would have spun off TikTok’s US operations into a new US-based company majority-owned and operated by US investors, but it was put on hold after China indicated it would not approve it following Trump’s announcements of steep tariffs on Chinese goods.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant and US Trade Representative Jamie Greer began trade talks with Chinese Vice President He Lifeng and China’s top trade negotiator Li Chenggang on Sunday in Spain, which concerns TikTok, but a deal is not expected before September 17, the source said.
TikTok was not discussed in previous rounds of US-China trade talks in Geneva, London and Stockholm. The source said that publicly including TikTok as an agenda item when the Treasury announced the latest talks gives the Trump administration political cover for another extension, which could anger both Republicans and Democrats in Congress who authorized the TikTok sale.
Trump began his second term as president on January 20 and chose not to enforce a law requiring TikTok to sell or close its US assets. He first extended the deadline until early April, then from May to June, and a third time until September.
Published – September 15, 2025 at 09:32.
