US President Donald Trump wants to ‘save’ TikTok, but wants the company to…
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday seeking to delay by 75 days the enforcement of a ban of popular short-video app TikTok that was slated to be shuttered on Jan. 19.
While signing the order, Trump suggested the United States government should be a half owner of TikTok's U.S. business in return for keeping the app alive and warned that he could impose tariffs on China if Beijing failed to approve a U.S. deal with TikTok.
The executive order capped 48 hours of legal maneuvering and political intrigue that left millions of U.S. TikTokkers struggling for answers about the fate of their app.
The drama began Saturday when the short video app used by 170 million Americans was taken offline for users shortly before a law that said it must be sold by its Chinese owner ByteDance on national security grounds, or be banned, took effect on Sunday.
The next day Trump said he had plans to "Save TikTok". Within hours, the company began restoring its service in the U.S., thanking the soon-to-be-inaugurated President for providing assurances to TikTok and its business partners that they would not face hefty fines to keep the app running.
The app and website were operational on Monday, but TikTok is still not available for download in the Apple and Google app stores.
Trump's order, signed hours after he was inaugurated on Monday, mirrors his earlier promises and directs the attorney general to not enforce the law to give his team time "to determine the appropriate course of action with respect to TikTok."
But the legality of Trump's executive order is unclear. The law requiring the divestiture was passed by big majorities in Congress, signed by President Joe Biden, and upheld by a unanimous Supreme Court.
The law also does not grant Trump authority to extend the deadline unless ByteDance has "binding agreements" to sell TikTok and it is unclear any agreements exist.
ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
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