President Donald Trump suggested reducing tariffs on China in exchange for China’s support of a TikTok deal.
Since taking office, Trump has levied a 20% tariff on Chinese goods, which took effect earlier this month. He plans to announce additional tariffs next week but recently indicated that he could reduce the percentage if China agrees to sell TikTok.
According to The New York Times, Trump acknowledged on Wednesday that China was “going to have to play a role” in any sale of TikTok and said, “Maybe I’ll give them a little reduction in tariffs or something to get it done.” He also suggested extending TikTok’s April 5 deadline to find a buyer.
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“Every point in tariffs is worth more money than TikTok,” Trump claimed.
President Donald Trump. Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images
TikTok originally had until mid-January to divest from its Beijing-based parent company ByteDance or face a permanent ban in the U.S. One of Trump’s first executive actions after taking office was to extend the deadline to April 5, giving TikTok more time to find a new owner supported by the U.S.
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TikTok has yet to find a buyer, though everyone from YouTube star Jimmy Donaldson to Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary has expressed interest in buying the popular social media app.
In January, O’Leary joined former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt in an effort called The People’s Bid for TikTok, which offers ByteDance $20 billion in cash for the app. Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian also joined the bid.
Still, $20 billion could be a conservative estimate of TikTok’s worth. According to Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, TikTok is worth more than $100 billion, or about half that amount without the algorithm.
TikTok has 170 million U.S. users. The company estimated in December that a ban would cost U.S. small businesses and creators over $1 billion in revenue within a month.
