The deal to sell TikTok's American assets has been suspended after China said it would not approve it due to tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump. This is reported by UNN with reference to the publication Bloomberg and The Washington Post.
Details
Sources told the publications that after months of negotiations, US officials were close to an agreement on Wednesday that would launch a new version of TikTok in the US, owned and operated by a majority of American investors.
The proposal envisaged a reduction in the share of the Chinese company ByteDance below 20% to comply with US law requiring the Beijing-based company to sell its stake in TikTok or ban the app in the US
It is noted that White House officials planned that Trump would sign a decree approving the proposal - which would receive support from investors and ByteDance, and would open a 120-day window to complete the deal. The announcement was to take place by the deadline - April 5, in order to avoid banning the social network.
However, this plan quickly failed the next day after Trump announced massive tariffs for US trading partners on April 2. In particular, tariffs that increased the overall rate on many Chinese imported goods to 54%. ByteDance officials warned on Thursday that authorities in Beijing would no longer give their blessing until tariff negotiations took place, which angered China and prompted retaliatory measures against the US.
Let us remind you
After the deal fell through, Donald Trump announced on Friday, April 4, 2025, that he would extend the deadline for reaching an agreement by another 75 days. At the same time, ByteDance publicly confirmed negotiations with the US government regarding TikTok for the first time, stating that key issues still need to be resolved and that any agreement must be approved in accordance with Chinese law.
In his post, Trump again expressed his desire for China to help him negotiate a sale, suggesting that the US could provide a discount on tariffs in exchange for Beijing's approval.
Trump offers China tariff relief in exchange for TikTok sale approval04.04.25, 07:48