For the first time, TikTok was formally included in the agenda of US-China trade talks held on Sunday. The Trump administration had ordered Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell its US operations by September 17, or face a nationwide ban on the popular video-sharing app. However, sources indicated that the deadline may once again be extended marking the fourth such extension since Donald Trump came to power. In the previous three rounds of talks in Geneva, London, and Stockholm, TikTok was not discussed. Officials say the move to add it now by the US Treasury Department aims to ease political pressure at home. Both Republican and Democrat lawmakers in the US Congress had earlier passed legislation requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok to an American company over national security concerns. Lawmakers, however, have expressed frustration over repeated extensions of the deadline. According to diplomatic sources, TikTok’s long-term future may ultimately be decided in a meeting between Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
TikTok enters US-China trade discussions for the first time
