President Donald Trump has indicated he would extend the June 19 deadline for ByteDance to divest TikTok‘s U.S. assets if no deal is reached by that date.

Newsweek reached out to the White House via email on Sunday for comment.

Why It Matters

In January, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a federal law that required ByteDance, TikTok’s China-based parent company to sell its operations or face a nationwide ban. The ban later went into effect and the Chinese-owned app stopped working for Americans for about 12 hours.

Trump signed an order that delayed the enforcement of the ban for 75 days until April 5, then later extended the deadline another 75 days to June 19.

What To Know

In a Sunday NBC News interview on Meet the Press with host Kristen Welker taped at Mar-a-Lago, Trump expressed willingness to see a deal completed, stating, “I would… I’d like to see it done.” Trump acknowledged having a “sweet spot” for the app that helped him win young voters in the 2024 election, adding, “TikTok is – it’s very interesting, but it will be protected.”

“I won youth by 34 points. And there are those who say TikTok has something to do with it,” Trump said at a press conference in Mar-a-Lago after his presidential election victory over Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in November.

A divestiture deal has been in development that would create a new U.S.-based entity with majority American ownership, but this arrangement was suspended after China indicated disapproval following Trump’s announcement of steep tariffs on Chinese goods.

Trump has previously appeared confident that a deal will come before the deadline and said during an interview on Air Force One in April that they have “a lot of potential buyers” and that there is “tremendous interest in TikTok,” according to Reuters.

Potential buyers have reportedly expressed interest in acquiring TikTok’s U.S. operations, including:

• Amazon
• AppLovin
• Oracle with venture capitalist Marc Andreessen
• Cryptocurrency foundation Hbar with OnlyFans co-founder Tim Stokely’s startup Zoop
• Project Liberty (founded by former LA Dodgers owner Frank McCourt)
• A group involving internet celebrity MrBeast
• Search engine Perplexity AI

Earlier this year, there were rumors that Elon Musk, the tech billionaire and head of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), was being tapped by Chinese authorities as a potential buyer of TikTok. However, TikTok shut down the reports, and in an email previously shared with Newsweek a spokesperson said: “We cannot be expected to comment on pure fiction.”

What People Are Saying

President Donald Trump said on Meet the Press that China was eager to reach an agreement, citing the impact of 145% tariffs on its economy: “At some point, I’m going to lower [tariffs] because otherwise, you could never do business with them. And they want to do business very much.”

Trump, on Truth Social on January 19: “SAVE TIKTOK!”

Vice President JD Vance, in an early March press release about the sale: “There will almost certainly be a high-level agreement that I think satisfies our national security concerns, allows there to be a distinct American TikTok enterprise.”

TikTok CEO Shou Chew, in a video on the platform in January after the first ban was lifted: “On behalf of everyone at TikTok and all our users across the country, I want to thank President Trump for his commitment to work with us to find a solution that keeps TikTok available in the United States.”

What Happens Next

The coming weeks will likely see intensified discussions among ByteDance, potential American investors, and government officials from both nations as the deadline approaches.