President Trump says he is extending the timeline for a sale of video-sharing app TikTok to a U.S. company by another 75 days. The deadline for a transfer from Communist Chinese ownership had been set for Saturday.

Mr. Trump says his administration has made “tremendous progress” to come up with a deal but says more time is needed. He says he will sign an executive order to keep the social media platform up and running while negotiations continue.

“We hope to continue working in Good Faith with China, who I understand are not very happy about our Reciprocal Tariffs,” Mr. Trump said in a post Friday afternoon on his Truth Social account.

The president has hinted that there may be room to ease some of his recent tariffs on Chinese goods in connection with a TikTok sale. “The tariffs give us great power to negotiate,” Mr. Trump said aboard Air Force One on Thursday.

This is the second extension Mr. Trump has granted. He signed an Executive Order to allow the app to continue operating in America for 75 days on his first day in the White House.

President Biden signed bipartisan legislation late in his administration banning the app unless ByteDance, its owner, sold the app. The Supreme Court later upheld the law after rejecting ByteDance’s claim that its First Amendment rights were violated by the ban.

The legislation came due to national security concerns, including the data the Chinese are collecting on Americans and if the algorithm used to surface content was being manipulated to suit Being’s agenda.

ByteDance has not confirmed if it is in negotiations to sell.

The immensely popular app boasts 170 million American users. American businesses rely on TikTok in their marketing efforts to reach young people.
Amazon made a last-minute bid to purchase the app this week. California tech firm AppLovin also put a proposal out this week to take over TikTok in all markets outside of China. Other investors that have expressed interest include “Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary, billionaire Frank McCourt, and Mr. Trump’s former Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin.