The Trump administration is expected to grant another extension of the September 17 deadline for ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, to divest its U.S. assets or face a shutdown. This would mark the fourth time President Donald Trump has delayed enforcement of the law, which initially required compliance by January 2025. The move highlights the administration’s reluctance to cut off access to the app, which has more than 170 million users in the United States.
Despite pressure from lawmakers concerned about national security risks tied to Chinese influence, Trump has repeatedly indicated that he wants to preserve TikTok. He recently suggested he had U.S. buyers lined up but remained vague about the app’s future, telling reporters that whether the app survives “depends, up to China.” Progress toward a deal has been slowed by Beijing’s control over TikTok’s algorithm, which would require its approval before any sale to American investors.
Earlier efforts to spin off TikTok’s U.S. operations into a new company majority-owned by U.S. investors stalled after China resisted, particularly following Trump’s announcement of steep tariffs on Chinese goods. Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer have opened talks with Chinese officials in Spain, with TikTok now formally on the agenda for the first time. However, no breakthrough is expected before the looming deadline.
The repeated extensions have given the Trump administration political breathing room, but they have also drawn criticism from both Republicans and Democrats who mandated TikTok’s sale. Trump, who began his second term in January, has now stretched the timeline from April to May, then to June, and most recently to September. Another delay could further frustrate Congress, even as the administration seeks to balance national security concerns with the platform’s popularity among young Americans