Donald Trump extends TikTok shutdown deadline for fourth time

President Donald Trump has formally extended the deadline to keep social media app TikTok available in the US until December 16, giving time to complete the framework of the deal announced on Monday after talks between American and Chinese government officials.

The executive order signed on Tuesday by Mr Trump was the fourth time he has bypassed federal law to prolong the deadline for China-associated TikTok to sell its assets to an American company or face a ban.

The original deadline set by Congress was January 19 of this year, a day before Mr Trump took the oath of office for his second term.

Mr Trump was asked on Tuesday about the framework deal he announced a day earlier and repeated that he would discuss TikTok with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday. He has said there are companies that want to buy the social media app owned by ByteDance and that details about its potential suitors would be announced soon.

“I hate to see value like that thrown out the window,” Mr Trump said as he departed the White House with first lady Melania Trump for a state visit to the UK.

The framework came out of a meeting in Madrid that concluded on Monday between US treasury secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese vice premier He Lifeng, among other officials.

Mr Bessent told reporters that the goal was to switch TikTok’s assets to US ownership for its operations in America, though he declined to discuss the details of the framework.

Li Chenggang, China’s international trade representative, told reporters the sides have reached a “basic framework consensus” to co-operatively resolve TikTok-related issues, reduce investment barriers and promote related economic and trade co-operation.

The US president warmed to TikTok and the prospect of keeping it alive under the belief that it helped him to win younger voters in the 2024 presidential election. Still, the law mandating its sale in the US was premised on the possible security risks the app poses in its collection of data.

The prolonged negotiations between the US and China over TikTok might ultimately mean little as its novelty has “slowly faded”, said Syracuse University political science professor Dimitar Gueorguiev in a statement.

“The US–China deal on TikTok may look like a breakthrough, but it risks being a Pyrrhic victory,” Mr Gueorguiev said.

“Its famous algorithm, once seen as uniquely powerful, has lost much of its mystique — copycat efforts show that the secret was not the code itself but TikTok’s early-mover advantage and network effects. Any US buyer is therefore purchasing market share and user base, not transformative technology.”