President Donald Trump said negotiations with China on the sale of TikTok could start in the coming days.
"I think we're gonna start Monday or Tuesday...talking to China, perhaps President Xi or one of his representatives, but we would we pretty much have a deal," Trump told reporters on Air Force One Friday (July 4) via Reuters.
Trump also claimed that he found a buyer for the controversial Chinese-owned social media app via the New York Post's Charles Gasparino earlier on Friday. Last month, Trump teased a potential TikTok buyer while comparing the upcoming July 9 tariff extension deadline to the demand that TikTok's Chinese-owned parent company ByteDance sell the social media platform, claiming "we have a buyer."
“It’s like TikTok. I’m extending that, you know, but no big, we have a buyer for TikTok, by the way,” Trump said, claiming the group of buyers was comprised of “very wealthy investors” looking to buy the U.S. version of the app. “I think I will need probably China approval, and I think President Xi will probably do it. Who’s the buyer? I’ll tell you in about two weeks.”
Trump had previously signed an executive order extending the deadline for a TikTok sale to September in order for the application to continue operating in the United States last month, which was the third extension made by Trump since beginning his second term in January.