President Donald Trump said Thursday if it was needed, "I'd probably get an extension" on the deadline his administration has given ByteDance to sell social media site TikTok.
An executive order signed in January gives Chinese company ByteDance until early April to divest from its TikTok operations in the U.S., or it will otherwise be banned.
President Trump said Thursday an immediate extension of that deadline wasn't necessary because there was still a month to go. But he also said he could push the date down the road if required.
“We have a lot of interest in TikTok," he said.
RELATED STORY | Trump puts 75-day hold on law that could ban TikTok in the US
President Trump signed the executive order to postpone TikTok's U.S. ban just hours after he was inaugurated.
That order called for a 75-day hold on the law to give the incoming Trump administration time to determine a course forward that protects U.S. national security while avoiding shutting down TikTok. President Trump has also directed the attorney general to not enforce the law during that time period. TikTok has remained active since then.
The president has also floated the idea of a deal where the U.S. government could take partial ownership of TikTok so it could remain operational in the U.S.
"You'd take 50% of TikTok for the approval that TikTok can continue in business," he said.
