Amid an escalating series of national security scandals, President Donald Trump extended his delay of Congress’s mandated divestment or ban on the popular social media platform TikTok by another 75 days—framing the move as evidence that his widely criticized and market-disrupting tariff policies are a “powerful” and necessary tool for safeguarding national security.
Trump claimed on Friday that his administration has been “working very hard” to save TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. Congress determined the platform represents a threat to national security when it passed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA) in April 2024.
Critics have been warning that ByteDance could send TikTok’s extensive user data to China, something the European Union reportedly is in the process of fining the company for allegedly doing.
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ByteDance “is set to be hit by a privacy fine of more than €500 million ($552 million) for illegally shipping European users’ data to China, adding to the growing global backlash over the video-sharing app,” Bloomberg reported on Thursday. “Ireland’s data protection commission, the company’s main regulator in Europe, will issue the penalty against TikTok before the end of the month, according to people familiar with the matter.”
Ignoring national security warnings—and amid questions about the legality of overriding Congress’s mandate— President Trump made his announcement:
“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. 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!”
The White House has repeatedly asserted that President Trump’s sweeping global tariffs are non-negotiable—only for Trump to suggest otherwise when it suits his agenda.
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“You have a situation with TikTok where China will probably say: ‘We’ll approve a deal, but will you do something on the tariffs?'” Trump told reporters on Thursday, as Reuters reported. “We could use tariffs in order to get something in return.”
There does not appear to be any set deal, despite Trump’s claims to the contrary.
Late last month, attorney Raffi Melkonian wrote: “The President can’t just say a law, however dumb, doesn’t apply anymore. But here we are.”
Friday afternoon, he added: “Re the nonexistent TikTok deal – people didn’t really glom onto this because no one cares about the business of golf, but Trump tried to put together a deal merging the two rival leagues – literally jawboning them in the Oval Office -and said it was done, and totally nothing happened.”
“Lying about business deals is just what he does and you can’t take anything he says about them remotely seriously,” he charged.
Jennifer Huddleston, a senior fellow in technology policy at the Cato Institute, commented that Trump’s executive order hitting the “snooze button on the TikTok divest or ban for 75 more days. … doesn’t settle the underlying questions about speech v national security, what a divestment looks like, & how the law could apply beyond TikTok.”
There have been bipartisan concerns and criticism of President Trump’s delay extension.
“This additional extension is a mistake,” warned Advancing American Freedom, former Vice President Mike Pence’s organization. “TikTok is not a harmless social media platform — it is spyware used by the CCP to spy on the American people. This is a critical matter of national security. TikTok must divest its Chinese ownership or be banned.”
U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) wrote: “TikTok’s Beijing ownership is a clear national security risk. Trump should no longer delay enforcing the requirement, under the law passed by Congress, for its divestment from foreign adversaries.”
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