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Trump: China Would Have Agreed TikTok Deal if Not for US Tariffs

FILE PHOTO: A man leaves the US headquarters of the social media company TikTok in Culver City, California, US January 17, 2025. REUTERS/David Swanson/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A man leaves the US headquarters of the social media company TikTok in Culver City, California, US January 17, 2025. REUTERS/David Swanson/File Photo
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Trump: China Would Have Agreed TikTok Deal if Not for US Tariffs

FILE PHOTO: A man leaves the US headquarters of the social media company TikTok in Culver City, California, US January 17, 2025. REUTERS/David Swanson/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A man leaves the US headquarters of the social media company TikTok in Culver City, California, US January 17, 2025. REUTERS/David Swanson/File Photo

US President Donald Trump said Sunday that China would have agreed to a deal on the sale of TikTok if it were not for the tariffs imposed by Washington on Beijing last week.

Trump on Friday extended the deadline for TikTok to find a non-Chinese buyer or face a ban in the United States, allowing 75 more days to find a solution -- a day after imposing additional 34 percent duties on all Chinese imports.

"The report is that we had a deal, pretty much for TikTok, not a deal, but pretty close, and then China changed the deal because of tariffs. If I gave a little cut in tariffs, they'd approve that deal in 15 minutes, which shows you the power of tariffs," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

The hugely popular video-sharing app, which has more than 170 million American users, is under threat from a US law passed last year that orders TikTok to split from its Chinese owner ByteDance or get shut down in the United States.

Trump had insisted his administration was near a deal to find a buyer for TikTok and keep it from shutting down that would involve multiple investors, but gave few details.

ByteDance, while confirming that it was in talks with the US government towards finding a solution, warned that there remained "key matters" to solve.

"An agreement has not been executed" and whatever was decided would be "subject to approval under Chinese law," the company added.

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Microsoft Pledges to Protect European Operations, Unveils Data Center Expansion

A Microsoft logo is pictured on a store in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, January 25, 2021. (Reuters)
A Microsoft logo is pictured on a store in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, January 25, 2021. (Reuters)
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Microsoft Pledges to Protect European Operations, Unveils Data Center Expansion

A Microsoft logo is pictured on a store in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, January 25, 2021. (Reuters)
A Microsoft logo is pictured on a store in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, January 25, 2021. (Reuters)

Microsoft pledged Wednesday to fight any US government order to halt data center operations in Europe as it sought to soothe concerns among European customers that trans-Atlantic tensions would lead to service disruptions.

The company's president, Brad Smith, said it's not something that officials are talking about in Washington, D.C. but it is a “real concern” for Microsoft's customers across Europe, which include governments.

President Donald Trump has stoked tensions between the US and Europe with his tariff-fueled trade war, and alarmed European leaders with policy changes, including pausing intelligence sharing with Ukraine, that throw into doubt his administration's commitment to the trans-Atlantic relationship, The AP news reported.

Smith, speaking at an event in Brussels, tried to allay concerns as he announced that the company was expanding data center operations across Europe.

“What we want Europeans to know is that they can count on us,” he said in a speech.

“In the unlikely event we are ever ordered by any government anywhere in the world to suspend or cease cloud operations in Europe, we are committing that Microsoft will promptly and vigorously contest such a measure using all legal avenues available, including by pursuing litigation in court,” Smith wrote in a Wednesday blog post.

He noted that Microsoft has experience fighting lawsuits from the previous Trump administration as well as from former President Barack Obama’s administration.

“If we ever find ourselves losing we will put in place business continuity arrangements” that include storing computer code in Switzerland that European partners can access, he said.

Microsoft is making five digital commitments to Europe, including increasing its data center capacity by 40 in 16 countries over the next two years, Smith said. The expansion will cost tens of billions of dollars annually. Smith declined to be more specific about the cost when asked by reporters.

The expansion comes amid calls for Europe to assert tech and data sovereignty by weaning itself off reliance from big US cloud data service providers, including Microsoft, Amazon and, to a lesser extent, Google.

“Given recent geopolitical volatility, we recognize that European governments likely will consider additional options,” and Microsoft is committed to collaborating with European companies, Smith said.