“We have a lot of potential buyers. There’s tremendous interest in TikTok,” Trump told reporters onboard Air Force One.
“We have a lot of people that want to buy TikTok. We’re dealing with China also on it, because they may have something to do with it,” he said, adding, “I’d like to see TikTok remain alive.”
This month, Trump announced that the US was in negotiations with four parties interested in purchasing the site, which has 170 million users in the US.
Due to worries that Beijing would use the app to secretly sway US public opinion or spy on Americans, a US legislation has forced TikTok to either divest from ByteDance or face banishment in the US.
The law went into effect on January 19, the day before Trump was sworn in, but he promptly announced a postponement that has kept it in effect.
That delay is set to expire on April 5.
“There’ll be a deal with TikTok, I’m pretty certain,” Trump said when asked if he would extend the deadline if there was no deal.
Trump attempted to ban TikTok in the United States on national security concerns during his first stint in the White House, but has warmed up to it.
“Selfishly speaking, I won the young vote by 36 points. Republicans generally don’t do very well with the young crowd, and I think a lot of it could have been TikTok,” he said.
AFP
