US President Donald Trump will consider a final proposal for TikTok on Wednesday (April 2), a report has said. For this, there will be a meeting at the Oval Office and will reportedly be attended by Vice President JD Vance, commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, national security adviser Mike Waltz and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, said the official.
First reported by CBS News, the Trump administration is finalising plans for potential investors that could include Blackstone and Oracle, as well as a long list of other investors that will likely involve blue chip private equity firms, venture capital firms, and major investors in the technology industry.
Oracle is already TikTok’s primary cloud provider and has been floated as a key player, possibly tasked with safeguarding American user data to address security concerns.
‘TikTok’ to April 5 deadline
Trump set a deadline of Saturday, April 5 for TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell its stake in the app or potentially face a ban in the US market. Lawmakers passed a bill last year setting a January 19 deadline for the sale, but Trump signed an executive order granting a 75-day extension for a potential deal.
In remarks to reporters aboard Air Force One over the weekend, Trump said of TikTok, “We have a lot of potential buyers. There’s a lot of interest in TikTok. The decision is going to be my decision.”
“I’d like to see TikTok remain alive,” he added, reiterating the comments in the Oval Office earlier this week, saying that there is “a lot of enthusiasm for TikTok.”
Meanwhile, Vance echoed Trump’s confidence, stating last week that he expects “the general terms of an agreement” to be reached by early April. However, the deal’s success hinges on Beijing’s approval – a potential ‘problem’ given TikTok’s valuation and the proprietary algorithm at its core.
