(Newser)
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President Trump plans to give TikTok another extension, delaying a US ban on the app for the third time since taking office. The move comes more than five months after a federal law was supposed to block TikTok unless it separated from its Chinese owner, ByteDance. Trump told reporters Wednesday that he'd extend TikTok's deadline, saying, "We're going to probably make a deal—I think we'll need China's blessing on it." Trump had indicated he'd delay the deadline in comments to reporters Tuesday, and Ars Technica provides context:
- "Yesterday, Trump [said] that China was holding up the sale, suggesting that China may have an upper hand in TikTok negotiations, and perhaps TikTok is losing its sheen as a US bargaining chip in Trump's bigger trade war."
- The New York Times adds that the perceived importance of the issue appears to be waning on the US side: "The repeated extensions have raised concerns among a handful of lawmakers ... but broadly, there does not appear to be much political appetite to force a deal or shutter the app, despite the law."
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NPR reports White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday confirmed Trump will sign an executive order granting a 90-day extension, during which she said the administration plans to work on finalizing a deal. "As he has said many times, President Trump does not want TikTok to go dark," she added. Trump originally pushed the ban back by 75 days on his first day back in office. A potential deal that was coalescing in April fell apart after Trump imposed tariffs on China, prompting another 75-day extension. That second extension expires Thursday.
(This story was generated by Newser's AI chatbot. Source: the NPR)