A day after raising tariffs on China to 54%, Trump says the US now has 'great power to negotiate' with China to force a TikTok sale

• Trump said the new 54% tariffs on China have given him "great power" to negotiate a TikTok deal.
• He said he would be willing to lower tariffs if countries gave him something "phenomenal."
• TikTok's April 5 divest-or-ban deadline edges even closer, with no buyer deal confirmed.

President Donald Trump is once again waving a tariff reduction carrot at China to get it to cave on a TikTok deal.

Trump spoke to reporters on Air Force One on Thursday, a day after imposing a baseline 10% tariff on imports from all countries and increasing China's tariff rate to 54%.

He said he would be open to cutting deals with countries over the tariffs, only if they're willing to give the US "something that's so phenomenal."

"For instance, with TikTok as an example, we have the situation with TikTok, where China will probably say, 'We'll approve a deal, but will you do something on the tariff?'" Trump said.

"The tariffs give us great power to negotiate, always have," he added.

When another reporter asked if he was in talks with China to grant tariff relief in exchange for a deal on TikTok, Trump replied that he was not.

Trump has previously floated the possibility of using tariffs to negotiate a TikTok deal with China.

In a press conference on March 26, Trump said China will have to "play a role" in TikTok's sale, "possibly in the form of an approval."

"Maybe I'll give them a little reduction in tariffs or something to get it done, you know, because every point in tariffs is worth more money than TikTok," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

This comes as TikTok's divest-or-ban deadline, slated for April 5, edges closer. In April 2024, the Senate passed a law ordering TikTok's Chinese owner, ByteDance, to sell its stake in the social media platform or have it banned in the US.

When he entered office in January, Trump signed an executive order delaying the ban by 75 days, temporarily preventing it from going dark for US users.

In the last few months, several parties have indicated interest in acquiring TikTok, like Trump's former treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian, former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, and YouTuber MrBeast.

There have also been reports of several eleventh-hour bids from Amazon and the owner of adult content site OnlyFans to buy the platform.

Vice President JD Vance said in a Thursday interview with Fox News that a TikTok deal would be reached before the April 5 deadline.

Tariffs on China

On Wednesday, Trump raised China's tariff rate from 20% to 54%, drawing criticism from the Chinese government.

Trump first imposed a 10% tariff on Chinese goods in February before doubling it to 20% in March. While on the campaign trail last year, Trump said he would impose tariffs of more than 60% tariffs on goods from China if elected.

China swiftly retaliated to both rounds of Trump's tariffs. In February, China imposed a 10% tariff on crude oil and agricultural equipment and a 15% tariff on coal and liquefied natural gas. In March, China placed a 10% tariff on soybeans, pork, and beef imports from the US, as well as a 15% tariff on chicken and cotton imports.

In response to Trump's increased tariffs on Wednesday, China's Commerce Ministry said in a statement it will "resolutely take countermeasures to safeguard its own rights and interests."

"Trade wars have no winners, and protectionism has no way out. The Chinese side urges the US to immediately lift its unilateral tariff measures and properly resolve differences with trading partners through equal dialogue," it added.

As of press time, China has not announced any retaliatory measures.

Representatives for Trump did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.