Trump plans to push back the September 17 deadline on TikTok

President Donald Trump is set to extend the September 17 deadline for China’s ByteDance to sell or shut down TikTok’s U.S. operations. This will be Trump’s fourth extension since he started his second term in January. The law originally gave ByteDance until January 2025 to sell TikTok’s U.S. assets or face a ban.

The extension comes as American and Chinese officials meet for a second day of trade talks in Spain on Monday amid a deadline this month for the Chinese owner of TikTok to find a buyer. The talks, led by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, are the latest effort to defuse a trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

Trump extends TikTok deadline again during talks

“We may let it die, or we may, I don’t know, it depends, up to China. It doesn’t matter too much. I’d like to do it for the kids.” Those were Trump’s uncertain comments on Sunday when a reporter inquired about TikTok’s future.

The president had already moved the deadline multiple times, first to April, then to June, and now to September. With each extension, he said that American buyers are ready to take over TikTok’s operations and wanted to give the talks more time, but he never settled on one clear path forward.

The White House hasn’t confirmed the extension yet, but these repeated delays show that Trump isn’t entirely certain about shutting down the app for good. Over 170 million people across the country use TikTok, and cutting them off would cause frustration and risk their income sources. A ban could also trigger pushback from the younger Americans, which is risky for Trump, who wants to keep their support.

At the same time, lawmakers in Washington remain strict about China and warn that TikTok gives Beijing access to personal information. With this, the country can influence what Americans see online and risk national security. 

Besides national security, Trump also wants to keep TikTok alive for political reasons. The app was one of his biggest campaign channels in 2024, as it allowed the president to reach the younger voters and give him the advantage he needed. With these delayed extensions, Trump is trying to buy more time to negotiate with ByteDance and possible U.S investors while avoiding direct confrontation with a generation of voters who may not take the ban as lightly or calmly. 

U.S.-China trade talks delay TikTok sale deal

The fact that any transfer of TikTok’s prized algorithm cannot happen without approval from Beijing has slowed down efforts to close a deal. Officials and investors almost had a deal that would give a new company in the U.S. major ownership of TikTok’s U.S. operations, but China retracted the talks after Trump announced steep tariffs on Chinese goods.

Negotiations started again on Sunday in Spain. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer met with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and top trade negotiator Li Chenggang. They included TikTok in the agenda for the first time, unlike the previous Geneva, London, and Stockholm meetings, where it was never mentioned. Still, people close to the talks said they don’t expect an agreement before the September 17 deadline.

Adding TikTok to the public agenda in Spain is a strategic play by the Trump administration to extend the deadline again, since it can now argue that active talks with China are ongoing. But this move doesn’t come without political risks because both Republicans and Democrats in Congress supported the law that required ByteDance to sell TikTok’s U.S. operations or face a shutdown. Many lawmakers are now frustrated with the repeated extensions and may put a lot of pressure on Trump’s administration if he does it one more time. 

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