US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said a potential deal to spin off the US assets of TikTok was still “on the table” days after it was put on hold.
Several US senators have criticised the proposed deal, but Trump defended it.
“We have a deal with some very good people, some very rich companies that would do a great job with it, but we’re going to have to wait and see what’s going to happen with China,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “It’s on the table, very much.”
Trump on Friday extended the deadline for China-based ByteDance to divest the US assets of the short video app used by 170 million Americans, or face a ban. The deal must be reached by June 19, the date when the ban would take effect.
Trump has twice granted a reprieve from enforcement of the ban, which was originally set to take effect in January.
The deal would spin off TikTok’s US operations into a new company based in the US and majority-owned and operated by US investors. The plan entails spinning off a US entity for TikTok and diluting Chinese ownership, sources have told Reuters.
