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Trump: US won't approve TikTok deal if China maintains control

US President Donald Trump said Saturday he has approved a deal between TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, and Oracle (ORCL), temporarily averting a ban on TikTok in US app stores.

President Donald Trump has said the United States would not approve the sale of TikTok to Oracle Corp and Walmart Inc if China maintains any control.

"If we find that they don't have total control, then we're not going to approve the deal... We will be watching it very closely," Trump said in an interview with Fox News on Monday.

The US president announced on Saturday that he had approved a deal allowing Silicon Valley giant Oracle to become the data partner for the video-sharing app.

The deal includes Walmart as a commercial partner and would create a new US company named TikTok Global that averts shutdown.

TikTok, owned by China's ByteDance, confirmed the agreement ahead on the Sunday night deadline.

The US Department of Commerce on Saturday announced it was postponing the ban on TikTok downloads until September 27 due to "recent positive developments."

Relations between the United States and China have hit the lowest level in decades. The two are at loggerheads over a range of issues, including trade, human rights, the South China Sea, Taiwan, and the coronavirus pandemic.

The US has also been using national security pretexts as an excuse to impose restrictions on Chinese communication apps and technologies. It has already targeted Chinese tech giant Huawei over allegations of security threats. 

The Trump administration ordered on Friday a ban on downloads of Chinese-owned messaging app WeChat as well as popular video-sharing app TikTok. The ban was scheduled to be implemented at 11:59 p.m. local time on Sunday night.

On Sunday, an American judge blocked the US government's ban on WeChat hours before it was due to take effect, as the two sides are already involved in a protracted dispute over trade and technology issues.

Citing concerns over free speech, Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler issued a ruling at the California court and granted the "motion for a nationwide injunction against the implementation" of the US government order.


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