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Trump administration to extend TikTok ban deadline for third time

Trump administration to extend TikTok ban deadline for third time
A person uses the TikTok app. Image used for representation purposes only. PHOTO/Pexels

President Donald Trump will extend the deadline for ByteDance Ltd. to divest TikTok’s US operations for the third time, allowing the app to continue operating in the United States as negotiations continue, the White House said on Tuesday, June 17, 2025.

“As he has said many times, President Trump does not want TikTok to go dark,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

“This extension will last 90 days, which the Administration will spend working to ensure this deal is closed so that the American people can continue to use TikTok with the assurance that their data is safe and secure.”

This marks the third extension since Trump took office in January.

He initially signed an executive order delaying the TikTok ban by 75 days, saying it would permit his administration “an opportunity to determine the appropriate course of action with respect to TikTok.”

In April, he granted another 75-day extension to avoid disrupting the app’s operations.

The latest extension expires on June 19. In his first term, Trump signed an executive order effectively seeking to ban the app in the United States unless ByteDance sold its US operations to an American company, but the order didn’t go into effect amid legal challenges.

In April 2024, then-President Joe Biden signed a law giving ByteDance 270 days to sell TikTok, citing national security concerns that critics called unfounded.

Under the law, failure to comply would require app store operators like Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their platforms starting Jan. 19, 2025.

The app went dark for hours and resumed its service on January 19, 2025, one day before Trump’s inauguration for his second term.

Meanwhile, US retail sales declined sharply in May, missing analysts’ expectations, amid concerns that President Donald Trump’s tariffs could damage the economy, according to data released on Tuesday by the US Department of Commerce.

Retail sales fell 0.9 per cent, exceeding the 0.6 per cent drop that economists had forecast.

The decline reflected growing worries that the Trump administration’s sweeping tariffs might slow down consumer activity.

One major factor in the decline was a drop in auto sales. Many consumers made large purchases earlier in anticipation of tariff announcements, avoiding car dealerships in May 2025.

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Xinhua News Agency

Xinhua News

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