Trump claims a TikTok buyer has been secured

President Donald Trump claims that he's secured a buyer for TikTok, which would keep the popular video sharing app available to U.S. users. Even so, there's still further work to do before any potential sale is finalised.

Trump made the claim while discussing his global tariffs during a Fox News interview on Sunday, stating that extending his pause on the tariffs or the TikTok ban would be "no big deal." Earlier this month he delayed the U.S. TikTok ban for a third time, signing an executive order declaring that it would not be enforced until Sept. 17. This followed previous delays Trump granted TikTok in January and April. 

"We have a buyer for TikTok, by the way," Trump said on Fox News. "I think I'll need probably China [sic] approval, and I think President Xi [Jinping] will probably do it."

The president didn't divulge the potential buyer's identity, merely stating that it was a group of "very wealthy people." This is unsurprising considering that TikTok's U.S. operations are valued in the tens of billions of dollars, thus would require a significant chunk of change to acquire. 

Trump stated that he'd reveal who the buyer was in two weeks, though it'd be reasonable to take such declarations with a grain of salt. Several people have noted that Trump regularly responds to questions by promising further information "in about two weeks," with late show host Jimmy Kimmel even presenting a supercut of such instances.

Numerous potential buyers have previously expressed interest in buying TikTok, such as software company Oracle and YouTuber MrBeast. Trump even floated the idea of the U.S. government itself investing in the company, and has repeatedly asserted that he's negotiating a deal which would keep TikTok available.

Despite this, the president appears to have come up empty so far. The issue has been further compounded by Trump's tariffs on China, which reportedly killed the chances of the Chinese government approving of a TikTok sale earlier this year.

The U.S. TikTok ban was originally scheduled to take effect from Jan. 19, just one day prior to Trump's presidential inauguration. However, the previous Biden administration made clear that it would not enforce the ban for the single day it was technically in effect, and one of Trump's first acts in office was to issue a delay.