Trump says he became “ fairly close ” from Tiktok Deal but Beijing

President Donald Trump said that he had almost concluded an agreement with China during a Tiktok sale, but Beijing changed his mind after announcing his new prices.

“We had an almost agreement for Tiktok – not an agreement but close enough – then China changed the agreement because of the prices,” Trump told journalists on Air Force on Sunday, returning to Washington after a golf weekend in Florida.

“If I gave a small reduction in prices, they would approve this agreement in 15 minutes, which shows you the power of the prices,” he added.

Trump’s comments on Air Force One came after announcing on Friday that it planned to extend the deadline for the sale of Tiktok.

On Truth Social, Trump said that he would sign an executive decree giving Bytedance,, The Chinese owner of Tiktok, 75 more days to sell his participation in the application or be prohibited in the United States.

“We don’t want Tiktok ‘to dark,’ ‘wrote Trump in a social article on Truth on Friday.” We can’t wait to work with Tiktok and China to conclude the agreement. “

Trump used prices such as a negotiation against China to put it on the strike on a tiktok agreement.

Thursday, the day after the taxation of a reference rate of 10% on imports from all countries and the increase in the rate of tariff of China to 54%, he said that it would be open to the conclusion of agreements with the countries on prices if they were willing to give to the United States “something so phenomenal”.

“For example, with Tiktok as an example, we have the situation with Tiktok, where China will probably say:” We will approve an agreement, but will you do something on the price? “,” Trump told journalists on Air Force One.

Before that, on March 26, he said that he could give China a “little price reduction” to “do it”.

In response to the additional United States, China, China has retaliated with its own 34% tariffs on all American goods on Friday.

Respond Trump’s increased prices On Wednesday, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce declared in a statement that it “would resolutely take countermeasures to protect its own rights and interests”.

Trump extended the deadline for the first time in January when he came into office, giving Bytedance until April 5 to determine his match plan. The application was briefly dark for its American users on January 18 before restoring its service.

Several parties have expressed their interest in buying tiktok, including the former secretary of the Trump Treasury, Steve MnuchinReddit co -founder Alexis OhanianThe former owner of Los Angeles Dodgers, Frank McCourt, and Youtuber Mrbeast.

Representatives of Tiktok, the Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC, and Trump did not respond to requests for comments from Business Insider.