Trump breaks silence on China response to tariffs as he admits he doesn't want TikTok to go dark
Donald Trump took to Truth Social to say how he really feels about TikTok after delaying its ban a second time as a trade war centered on his tariffs begins to heat up
Hannah Broughton
07:42 ET, APR 5 2025
Donald Trump says he hopes to continue working in good faith with China
In a post on Truth Social, Trump stated, “My Administration has been working very hard on a Deal to SAVE TIKTOK, and we have made tremendous progress.
“The Deal requires more work to ensure all necessary approvals are signed, which is why I am signing an Executive Order to keep TikTok up and running for an additional 75 days,” he continued.
“We hope to continue working in Good Faith with China, who I understand are not very happy about our Reciprocal Tariffs (Necessary for Fair and Balanced Trade between China and the U.S.A.!).
“This proves that Tariffs are the most powerful economic tool, and very important to our National Security! We do not want TikTok to 'go dark.' We look forward to working with TikTok and China to close the Deal. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
This week it was revealed that the US had struck a deal with China over the social media giant, only for it to collapse after Trump announced his controversial tariffs, causing the company to back out.
The agreement between the US and TikTok had won approval from existing investors, new investors, ByteDance, and the US government.
Meanwhile, the Chinese embassy in
Washington DC said it "opposed practices that violate the basic principles of the market economy" in a statement.
The powerhouse country faces a 54% aggregate tariff on goods imported into the US and has retaliated with 34% in counter-tariffs.
On Friday, ByteDance, who owns TikTok, said they had been discussing the fate of the platform with the Trump administration.
"We are still in talks with the US government, but no agreement has been reached and the two sides still have differences on many key issues," a spokesperson said.
"There are key matters to be resolved. Any agreement will be subject to approval under Chinese law.”
The US holds more TikTok users than any other country, with the platform currently attracting around 1.12 billion active users worldwide.
The US, Indonesia and Brazil are the world's top TikTok users. The United States stands at 135.79 million users, Indonesia with 107.7 million users and Brazil with 91.75 million users.
Donald Trump took to Truth Social to say how he really feels about TikTok after delaying its ban a second time as a trade war centered on his tariffs begins to heat up
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