China rebuffs Trump’s offer of tariff concessions if Beijing concedes TikTok deal

WASHINGTON - China on March 27 rebuffed a suggestion from US President Donald Trump that he might offer to reduce tariffs on the country to get Beijing’s approval for the sale of popular social media platform TikTok.

Mr Trump said on March 26 that he would be willing to reduce tariffs to get a deal done with TikTok’s Chinese parent ByteDance to sell the short-video app used by 170 million Americans.

ByteDance faces an April 5 deadline to find a non-Chinese buyer for TikTok or face a US ban on national security grounds that was supposed to have taken effect in January under a 2024 law.

The law is the result of concern in Washington that TikTok’s ownership by ByteDance makes it beholden to the Chinese government and that Beijing could use the app to conduct influence operations against the US and collect data on Americans.

Mr Trump said he was willing to extend the April deadline if an agreement over the social media app was not reached.

He acknowledged the role China will play to get any deal done, including giving its approval, and told reporters that “maybe I’ll give them a little reduction in tariffs or something to get it done”.

TikTok did not immediately comment.

Beijing swiftly rebuffed Mr Trump’s suggestion, with its Foreign Ministry saying that it has “repeatedly stated our position” on TikTok.

“The Chinese side’s stance against imposing additional tariffs is also consistent and clear,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said.

China’s Commerce Ministry said its position on the tariff issue is consistent, and that Beijing is willing to engage with Washington on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit.

Mr Trump’s comment suggests the sale of TikTok is a priority for his administration, and important enough to use tariffs as a bargaining chip with Beijing.

In February and earlier in March, Mr Trump added levies totalling 20 per cent to existing tariffs on all imports from China.

Getting China to agree to any deal to give up control of a business worth tens of billions of dollars has always been the biggest sticking point to getting any agreement finalised. The US President has used tariffs as a bargaining chip in the TikTok negotiations in the past.

On Jan 20, his first day in office, he warned that he could impose tariffs on China if Beijing failed to approve a US deal with TikTok.

US Vice-President J.D. Vance has said he expects the general terms of an agreement that resolves the ownership of the social media platform to be reached by April 5.

Reuters reported last week that White House-led talks among investors are coalescing around a plan for the biggest non-Chinese backers of ByteDance to increase their stakes and acquire the video app’s US operations, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.

The future of the app used by nearly half of all Americans has been up in the air since a law, passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, required ByteDance to divest TikTok by Jan 19.

The app briefly went dark in January

after the US Supreme Court upheld the ban, but flickered back to life days later once Mr Trump took office.

The President quickly issued an executive order postponing enforcement of the law to April 5 and said in February that he could further extend that deadline to give himself time to shepherd a deal.

The White House has been involved in an unprecedented level in the closely watched deal talks, effectively playing the role of an investment bank.

Free speech advocates have argued that the ban unlawfully threatens to restrict Americans from accessing foreign media in violation of the First Amendment of the US Constitution. REUTERS