Sep 14, 2025 - Business

Trump on TikTok ban deadline: "We may let it die"

Rebecca Falconer

President Trump walks, wearing a navy jacket with a small US flag pin, a white shirt and pink tie with diamond-shaped dots, walks toward Air Force One at Morristown Airport on September 14, 2025 in Morristown, New Jersey. — President Trump in Morristown, New Jersey, on Sunday. Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

President Trump indicated Sunday he could again extend this week's deadline for TikTok to be sold or banned.

What he's saying: "I may or may not, we're negotiating TikTok right now," Trump said when asked by a reporter in Morristown, New Jersey, if he'd extend the deadline beyond Wednesday.

"We may let it die, or we may, I don't know, it depends, up to China," Trump added. "It doesn't matter too much. I'd like to do it for the kids that like it."

The big picture: Trump's comments came as U.S. and Chinese officials met on Sunday in Madrid for their fourth round of trade talks that included discussion on TikTok, which has 170 million users in the United States.

Congress passed a law that former President Biden signed and the Supreme Court upheld requiring ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, to either sell the app to a U.S. firm or shut down operations by Jan. 19 due to national security concerns.
Trump has since delayed the deadline on this three times despite moving to ban TikTok in 2020, saying in December that he has "a warm spot in my heart for TikTok because I won youth by 34 points" in the 2024 presidential election.

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Trump on TikTok ban deadline: "We may let it die"

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