US President Donald Trump is to hold a meeting with aides on Wednesday, to weigh options ahead of a possible TikTok sale or ban.
The Associated Press, citing a person familiar with the situation, reported that Trump’s meeting with aides at the White House on Wednesday will likely discuss possible TikTok investors or acquirers, just ahead of the ahead of a 5 April deadline.
It comes after Trump last week offered Beijing an ‘inducement’ for them to approve the sale of TikTok’s operations in the United States, saying that he would consider a reduction in tariffs on China if the Chinese government approves a sale of TikTok’s US operations.
White House meeting
According to the AP, those likely to attend the Oval Office meeting on Wednesday are Vice President JD Vance, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, White House national security adviser Mike Waltz and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
Trump has previously stated that the deadline on a TikTok deal could be extended further if needed.
Trump has also previously proposed terms in which the US would have a 50 percent stake in a joint venture.
TikTok and ByteDance have not publicly commented on the talks, AP noted. It is also unclear if owner ByteDance has changed its consistent position on selling TikTok, after saying early last year it does not plan to sell it.
So what happens if not sale is organised before the 5 April deadline?
Well, if TikTok is not sold to an approved buyer by 5 April, the original law that bans it nationwide would once again go into effect.
But Trump could again extend the deadline further if more time is needed to reach a deal.
Sale or divest bill
TikTok has a rapidly growing e-commerce operation that has recently expanded to Europe, but has been facing the prospect of a nationwide closure in America for some time now.
It came after US President Joe Biden in April 2024 had signed a bill that gave Chinese owner ByteDance up to a year to divest TikTok, or face a nationwide ban across the United States.
It should be remembered that TikTok is already been banned on US federal devices due to national security concerns, and a majority of US states have also banned the app on state-owned devices.
After Biden signed that bill, ByteDance faced a divest deadline for a sale of TikTok by Sunday 19 January 2025. After that deadline, Internet service providers (ISPs) faced being penalised for supporting TikTok’s operations in the country.
TikTok had temporarily suspended its service in the US for several hours ahead of the 19 January deadline, but then restored service after Trump said he planned to extend the deadline.
Shortly after that Trump signed an executive order that shifted the deadline forward 75 days, expressing a desire to give a US entity a 50 percent stake in the app to keep it available in the country.
This meant TikTok’s 19 January deadline was pushed back until Saturday 5 April 2025.
TikTok talks
Beijing-based ByteDance has not officially changed its stance, and has always stated that it would rather shutter the app in the US rather than sell it.
Beijing likewise has always opposed a TikTok sale.
Yet in January one of the Chinese company’s board members revealed that ByteDance was in active talks with the Trump administration over a way of keeping TikTok active in the US without selling it – reflecting ByteDance’s efforts to maintain services to TikTok’s 170 million US users
Then last month Trump said his administration was in touch with four different groups about the sale of TikTok, and that all options were good.
Possible buyers
There are a number of possible American acquirers for TikTok.
In January TikTok had denied a ‘pure fiction’ report of a possible sale to Elon Musk.
Also in January a group of investors, including American billionaire and former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, submitted the ‘People’s Bid’ to buy the platform from ByteDance. Investors in the consortium have reportedly offered ByteDance $20 billion in cash for TikTok’s US platform.
In previous years when Trump had tried to force TikTok’s sale during his first term, Oracle, Microsoft and other firms including Walmart were potential acquirers.
More recently Oracle the investment firm Blackstone have been touted as acquirers or investors.
Aides for VP JD Vance have also reportedly out to some parties, such as AI startup Perplexity AI, to get additional details about their bid.
Other interested parties include Trump’s former Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin and Rumble.
Jesse Tinsley, the founder of the payroll firm Employer.com, has also reportedly said he too has organised a consortium, and is offering ByteDance more than $30 billion for TikTok.
