WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday (Jan 20) seeking to delay by 75 days the enforcement of a ban of popular short-video app TikTok that was slated to be shuttered on Jan 19.

While signing the order, Trump suggested the United States government should be a half owner of TikTok's US business in return for keeping the app alive and warned that he could impose tariffs on China if Beijing failed to approve a US deal with TikTok.

The executive order capped 48 hours of legal manoeuvring and political intrigue that left millions of US TikTokkers struggling for answers about the fate of their app.

The drama began Saturday when the short video app used by 170 million Americans was taken offline for users shortly before a law that said it must be sold by its Chinese owner ByteDance on national security grounds, or be banned, took effect on Sunday.

The next day Trump said he had plans to "Save TikTok". Within hours, the company began restoring its service in the US, thanking the soon-to-be-inaugurated president for providing assurances to TikTok and its business partners that they would not face hefty fines to keep the app running.

The app and website were operational on Monday, but TikTok is still not available for download in the Apple and Google app stores.

Trump's order, signed hours after he was inaugurated on Monday, mirrors his earlier promises and directs the attorney general to not enforce the law to give his team time "to determine the appropriate course of action with respect to TikTok."

But the legality of Trump's executive order is unclear. The law requiring the divestiture was passed by big majorities in Congress, signed by President Joe Biden, and upheld by a unanimous Supreme Court.

The law also does not grant Trump authority to extend the deadline unless ByteDance has "binding agreements" to sell TikTok and it is unclear if any agreements exist.

ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

Representative Frank Pallone said Trump's order is "circumventing national security legislation passed by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in Congress."

Tense relations with China

The debate over TikTok comes at a tense moment in US-China relations. Trump has said he intends to place tariffs on China but has also indicated he hopes to have more direct contact with China's leader.

While signing the executive order Monday evening, Trump said that he "could see" the US government taking a 50 per cent stake in TikTok and as part of that stake, the US could police the site.

Trump added that if a deal isn't approved by China, "there's no value. So if we create that value, why aren't we entitled to like half?" He said the company could be worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

The US has never banned a major social media platform. The law passed last year gives the Trump administration sweeping authority to ban or seek the sale of other Chinese-owned apps.

Trump saving TikTok represents a reversal in stance from his first term in office. In 2020, he unsuccessfully sought to ban the app — as well as Tencent's WeChat — over concerns the company was sharing Americans' personal information with the Chinese government.

More recently, Trump has said he has "a warm spot in my heart for TikTok," crediting the app with helping him win over young voters in the 2024 presidential election.

Later in 2020, Trump blessed a deal for a new ownership structure with Walmart and Oracle agreeing to take ownership stakes in the new company.

Trump said the agreement would include the companies paying for a US$5 billion (S$6.78 billion) US education fund as part of the deal. The deal ultimately fell apart.

It would be unprecedented for the US government to demand an equity stake in a major company in exchange for approving its continued use.

Trump's comments also did not address whether ByteDance or other Chinese entities would be allowed to hold a stake in TikTok or if the deal would address US national security concerns about US user data.

The order directs the Justice Department to issue letters to companies like Apple, Alphabet's Google and Oracle that supply services to TikTok "stating that there has been no violation of the statute and that there is no liability for any conduct that occurred during the above-specified period."

It is still unclear if Trump's order will be enough to convince Alphabet's Google and Apple to restore the app to stores in the United States. 

That announcement came as China indicated for the first time it would be open to a transaction keeping TikTok operating in the US.

When asked about the app's restoration and Trump's desire for a deal, China's foreign ministry told a regular news briefing on Monday that it believed companies should "decide independently" about their operations and deals.

It repeated the same comment on Tuesday when asked about Trump's executive order.

Source: Reuters