Mallory Wilson | June 20, 2025

(The Washington Times) — President Trump has extended the deadline for the Chinese-owned app TikTok to divest its U.S. assets a third time since taking office in January.

Mr. Trump posted Thursday on Truth Social the executive order he signed pushing the deadline an additional three months.

“I’ve just signed the Executive Order extending the Deadline for the TikTok closing for 90 days (September 17, 2025). Thank you for your attention to this matter!” he wrote.

He first extended the deadline on his first day in office after the social media app went dark in the U.S. briefly due to a law signed by then-President Joe Biden in April 2024 that mandated the app’s owner, ByteDance, sell to an American owner or be banned in America.

The argument for the ban was that the country’s national security was at risk due to the app’s Chinese owners. The Supreme Court upheld the law.

Mr. Trump, who used to back banning the app that’s popular among young users, had a change of heart after he landed the youth vote in November’s election.

He extended the deadline again in April for 75 days amid talks of a possible deal. Some big names appeared as potential buyers, like Amazon, Oracle, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian and billionaire businessman Frank McCourt.

Mr. Trump’s sweeping tariffs that went into effect in April are said to have killed any potential deals.

“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 Tuesday. “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.”

Mr. Trump said Tuesday as he flew back from the Group of Seven summit in Canada that he would “probably” be extending the deadline. He also said he thinks Chinese President Xi Jinping will “ultimately approve” any deal.