TikTok sale derailed over China tariffs: What to know

00:00 Speaker A

China backed off a deal to sell TikTok over opposition to the latest round of tariffs, the president said on Sunday. Take a listen.

00:09 Donald Trump

We had a deal pretty much with Tik Tok. Not a deal but pretty close. And then China changed the deal because of tariffs. Uh, If I gave a little cut in tariffs, they’d approve that deal in 15 minutes. Which shows you the power of tariffs, right?

00:27 Speaker A

For an additional 34% tariff on China was announced on April 2nd. A deal was reportedly close. According to the Washington Post, an agreement was set to be announced last Thursday. But Chinese officials insisted on tariff negotiations first, and the deal fell apart at the last minute. Congress last year passing a law requiring that TikTok parent company, ByteDance, either sell the app or face a ban in the US by January. President Trump delayed that deadline by 75 days, vowing to save the popular social media app by brokering a deal with the US buyer. O’Leary Ventures chairman Kevin O’Leary who joined Frank McCourt’s bid to buy the social media app spoke with Yahoo Finance on Friday about the complications surrounding the would-be TikTok deal.

01:16 Kevin O’Leary

The current idea is to get a copy of the code and make an American version of it and we’re not sure that passes muster with the law. We need clarity on what’s allowed and what isn’t based on the law that was passed by Congress and the Supreme Court order. Remember, it was nine to zero. There was no ambiguity in it.

01:46 Speaker A

In lieu of a deal, President Trump extended the divest or ban deadline by another 75 days on Friday.