President-elect Donald Trump said he had a “very good” call with China’s President Xi Jinping on Friday that touched on a number of topics, including TikTok. The popular app is set to be banned from the U.S. on Jan. 19, after the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously agreed on Friday to uphold the law banning it.
“I just spoke to Chairman Xi Jinping of China. The call was a very good one for both China and the U.S.A.,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “It is my expectation that we will solve many problems together and starting immediately. We discussed balancing Trade, Fentanyl, TikTok and many other subjects. President Xi and I will do everything possible to make the World more peaceful and safe!”
Trump has said he would like to “save” TikTok, which he credits with helping him gain support amongst young voters last year. To keep it around, the incoming Trump Administration is considering an executive order that would overturn the ban, which was signed into law by President Joe Biden last April.
An executive order, at minimum, could buy ByteDance — TikTok’s parent company — more time to make a deal to sell the app, as the executive order gets weighed by the courts. ByteDance, though, has said it does not want to sell TikTok.
“The Supreme Court decision was expected, and everyone must respect it. My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to review the situation,” Trump said in response to the ruling. “Stay tuned!”
Meanwhile, TikTok has said it will shut down in the U.S. on Sunday — a move that goes even further than the ban calls for.
The law banning the app prohibits new downloads and also bars Apple and Google’s app stores from offering TikTok, starting Sunday. It also prevents the app from updating on the phones of existing users — something that would ultimately make TikTok unusable for Americans.
Trump appears ready to make a move to keep TikTok alive in the U.S., though. One clear sign that is the case: TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is set to attend Trump’s inauguration on Monday, where he will be prominently featured alongside fellow tech execs like Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and X boss Elon Musk.
