Trump Says China Tariffs May Be Cut To Seal TikTok Deal

President Donald Trump has offered authorities in Beijing an ‘inducement’ for them to approve the sale of TikTok’s operations in the United States.

The Associated Press quoted Trump on Wednesday as saying that he would consider a reduction in tariffs on China if that country’s government approves a sale of TikTok’s US operations, ahead of a 5 April deadline.

President Trump meanwhile escalated the trade war with his allies, when he also announced new import tariffs of 25 percent on cars and car parts coming into the US.

Trump said the car import tariffs would come into effect on 2 April, and claimed the measure would lead to “tremendous growth” for the industry. But analysts warned the move would likely to lead to the temporary shutdown of significant car production in America, increase prices, and further strain relations with allies.

TikTok inducement

There is also the risk that Japan, Canada and the European Union will implement tariffs on US imports in retaliation to Trump’s latest move.

Trump later took to his Truth Social platform to threaten “far larger” tariffs on the EU and Canada should they co-operate to “do economic harm to the USA.”

Amid this, Trump has said he would consider reducing China tariffs if there is a deal on TikTok.

Speaking with reporters at the Oval Office, Trump was quoted by AP as saying the move “sounds like something I’d do.”

The president’s comments came less than two weeks before a 5 April deadline requiring TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance to either divest, or face a US ban.

Sale or divest bill

TikTok has some 170 million users in the US as well as a rapidly growing e-commerce operation, but has been facing the prespect 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

However 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 earlier this month Trump said his administration was in touch with four different groups about the sale of TikTok, and that all options were good.

Earlier this week it was reported that ByteDance’s largest US investors were in talks for a majority stake in US TikTok spin-off.

ByteDance would apparently seek to keep a stake in the US operation, but its ownership would be diluted to below the 20 percent threshold required by US law.

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.

In previous years when Trump had tried to force TikTok’s sale during his first term, Oracle, Microsoft and other tech firms were potential acquirers.