China Rebuffs Trump's Offer of Tariff Concessions If Beijing Approves TikTok Deal

China on March 27 rebuffed a suggestion from US President Donald Trump that he might offer to reduce tariffs on the country to get Beijing’s approval for the sale of popular social media platform TikTok.

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WASHINGTON —

Mr. Trump said on March 26 that he would be willing to reduce tariffs to get a deal done with TikTok’s Chinese parent ByteDance to sell the short-video app used by 170 million Americans.

ByteDance faces an April 5 deadline to find a non-Chinese buyer for TikTok or face a US ban on national security grounds that was supposed to have taken effect in January under a 2024 law.

The law is the result of concern in Washington that TikTok’s ownership by ByteDance makes it beholden to the Chinese government and that Beijing could use the app to conduct influence operations against the US and collect data on Americans.

Mr. Trump said he was willing to extend the April deadline if an agreement over the social media app was not reached.

He acknowledged the role China will play to get any deal done, including giving its approval, and told reporters that “maybe I’ll give them a little reduction in tariffs or something to get it done.”

TikTok did not immediately comment.