The administration of US President Donald Trump is abandoning the idea of agreeing to a deal for TikTok assets in the foreseeable future, Fox Business correspondent Charles Gasparino reported.
“White House officials acknowledge that a potential deal for TikTok's US assets - a sale by China to an American company - is off the table for the foreseeable future, and perhaps permanently, due to the trade war,“ he writes in X.
Earlier, Reuters, citing sources, reportedthat the deal for TikTok's assets had fallen through. According to him, the agreement was approved by the Chinese Internet holding ByteDance, which owns TikTok, and the US government. The deal involves transferring the platform's operations to a new company based in the United States and owned primarily by American investors.
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order after taking office on January 20 that postponed the blocking of the platform in the country until April 5. He also told reporters that the United States should have the right to half of TikTok, but did not explain exactly what that meant. On April 4, Trump signed an executive order extending the social network's operation in the country for another 75 days.
On April 2, Trump announced the introduction of tariffs on products from 185 countries and territories. Regarding China, the US tariffs were set at 34%. In response, the Chinese authorities announced that they would impose additional tariffs of 34% on all products imported from the United States starting April 10.
Later, the head of the White House announced that the United States would impose a tariff of 104% on Chinese products until the Chinese authorities agree to a trade agreement with the United States. In response, China raised tariffs on American goods from 34% to 84%. On Wednesday, Trump announced that he would increase import tariffs on China to 125%.