Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick warned Thursday that TikTok will go dark unless China agrees to a deal in which American owners take control of the popular social media app and its algorithm.
“It’s got to come out of Chinese control,” Lutnick told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” “We’ve made the decision. You can’t have Chinese control and have something on a hundred million American phones. That’s just not OK.”
“So, if it’s in American control, China can have a little piece, or ByteDance, the current owner, can keep a little piece,” he continued. “But basically Americans will have control, Americans will own the technology and Americans will control the algorithm.”
TikTok has remained online for the past seven months despite a law requiring its parent company ByteDance to divest from the app or face a U.S. ban. The law, passed by Congress last year, was meant to go into effect the day before President Trump took office.
However, former President Biden declined to enforce the law in his final days in office, and Trump quickly followed this up with an executive order delaying enforcement. He has since given TikTok two more extensions, as he attempts to strike a deal to keep the app available. The next deadline is set for Sept. 17.
Trump said late last month that he had found a buyer for the app, which he described as “very, very wealthy people.” However, he underscored the deal would likely require the approval of the Chinese government.
“If that deal gets approved by the Chinese, then that deal will happen,” Lutnick added Thursday. “If they don’t approve it, then TikTok is going to go dark. And those decisions are coming very soon. … The deal is over to them right now.”
The Trump administration had previously finalized a deal on TikTok in April, but the effort was scuttled by the announcement of the president’s “reciprocal” tariff regime, which targeted China and other countries with hefty new import taxes.
