Trump: TikTok Deal Will Be Made Before April 5 Deadline

The deadline for the TikTok ban is approaching. US President Donald Trump previously extended the deadline by 75 days, which means that on the 5th of April, time’s up. We’re only a few days away, and there’s no deal in sight, but Trump is optimistic. Speaking with reporters, Trump says that a deal to buy TikTok will be struck before its deadline this Saturday.

Last minute deal

According to Trump, “We have a lot of potential buyers. There’s tremendous interest in Tiktok,” adding, “I’d like to see Tiktok remain alive.”

Trump had previously stated that there were at least four bidders lined up to buy TikTok. However, he did not provide any names. Last we heard, Oracle was in the lead to buy TikTok, but the company has remained silent on the matter. Private equity giant Blackstone is reportedly eyeing a small minority stake in TikTok’s US operations—but it’s unclear if that’ll be enough to dodge the ban.

Right now, the US government basically wants to control TikTok’s US operations. The government claims that it is concerned about national security. This is because ByteDance, a Chinese company, owns TikTok. The US government believes that TikTok is sending data on US citizens back to China, something that the app has refuted many times.

Trump’s eagerness

In a way, it’s interesting. The whole idea of banning TikTok actually originated from Trump during his first term as the President of the United States. His wishes were carried out by the Biden administration, which introduced legislation that would ban TikTok if it were not sold to a US company or at least give the US a controlling stake in it.

However, Trump has credited TikTok in part for helping him win a second term as President. It might explain why Trump is willing to find ways to allow TikTok to escape the ban. Several names have already entered the ring as potential bidders. Oracle is one of them. We also previously heard Elon Musk’s name mentioned, but he later denied his interest.

This includes a group of investors led by YouTuber MrBeast. Reddit’s co-founder Alexis Ohanian is reportedly interested. But so far, nothing concrete has surfaced, making a deal before the deadline seem unlikely. Trump has said he’s open to extending the deadline if talks fall through.