Trump Confirms TikTok Deal Is Still "On The Table" Despite Being Faced By Senators

JAKARTA The President of the United States, Donald Trump, on Wednesday 9 April, said that the agreement to separate TikTok's assets in the US from his China-based parent company ByteDance was still at the table' despite being postponed a few days earlier.

A number of US Senators voiced strong criticism of the deal's plans, but Trump defended it.

"We have an agreement with very good people, companies that are very rich and can manage this very well. But we have to wait and see how it goes with China," Trump told reporters at the Oval Office. The deal is still very much on the table.

Earlier, on Friday, April 4, Trump extended the deadline for ByteDance to divest TikTok assets in the US or face a full ban. The new set deadline is June 19, coinciding with an effective date of ban if no agreement is reached.

Trump himself has twice relaxed the implementation of the ban, which was originally scheduled to take effect in January.

The plan includes the separation of TikTok operations in the US into a new company based and majority owned by US investors. This scheme is suspected to be aimed at weakening China's ownership of the app.

However, a number of Democratic senators such as Mark Warner and Ed Markey opposed Trump's move, saying that the President does not have the legal authority to extend the deadline. Warner also considered that the agreement being discussed was most likely not meeting applicable legal requirements.

On Wednesday, Markey attempted to submit a bill to extend the deadline until October, but his move was thwarted.

The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Tom Cotton, voiced concerns about China's potential interference in TikTok ownership. He stressed that any American investor who wants to buy TikTok must cut off all ties with China.

These potential buyers may ask Congress to protect them from legal consequences, or even forgive them for past TikTok violations against the American people, Cotton said. For anyone in America who wants to invest in this semi-coved TikTok deal, know that Congress will never protect you if you cooperate with the Chinese Communists.

Until now, TikTok has not made official comments regarding the latest developments.

One of the biggest challenges in finalizing this deal is the need for approval from the Chinese government. A source close to ByteDance investors in the US said that efforts to finalize the agreement continued ahead of the June 19 deadline, but the resolution of the tariff conflict between the White House and Beijing was also an important key.

According to the law previously passed, TikTok should have stopped operating in the US as of January 19, unless ByteDance had completed its asset divestment. However, Trump, who took office on January 20, chose not to enforce the rules.

The US Department of Justice in January told Apple and Google it would not enforce the law, thus allowing the TikTok app to be re-available for download by new users on both platforms.

Until now, the fate of TikTok in the US is still uncertain and relies heavily on negotiations between the US and Chinese governments.