Trump ignored TikTok ban, then announced a deal. Here鈥檚 what it means.
-
Caitlin Babcock Staff writer
When President Donald Trump said Sept. 15 that his administration had reached a deal with China to sell TikTok 鈥� a popular social platform built around catchy short videos 鈥� he said it would come as happy news to the app鈥檚 millions of users. But they may not have been on edge. Despite being banned in January, TikTok has remained fully operational as the Trump administration did not enforce the law, saying it was negotiating a deal.
On the day before President Trump鈥檚 inauguration, U.S. app stores faced penalties of $5,000 per TikTok user if they continued to distribute or host the app. Congress, citing concerns that the Chinese government could gain access to TikTok users鈥� personal data, had come to a rare bipartisan consensus: It passed a law requiring TikTok to be banned unless China signed off on a sale by ByteDance, the app鈥檚 parent company.
Extensions ordered by Mr. Trump have kept the app available and the ban from being enforced. But the future of TikTok remained unresolved.聽
Why We Wrote This
Congress said TikTok should be banned unless it was sold by its Chinese owner. For months, President Trump has controversially delayed enforcing that law. He now says the U.S. is reaching a deal with China that meets America鈥檚 security concerns.
Even if a deal with China occurs, the journey has raised a lasting question about the balance of powers and whether a president can simply decline to enact a law passed by Congress.
What do we know about the TikTok deal?
The Trump administration said Monday it has reached an agreement with China to keep TikTok running in the United States. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called the agreement a 鈥渇ramework,鈥� and said Mr. Trump will meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Friday to complete the deal.
The U.S. and China had been engaged in talks in Madrid this weekend to discuss trade and other issues. The administration has not released details about the deal, including who TikTok鈥檚 proposed buyer is.
Mr. Bessent said the deal addresses U.S. security concerns while being 鈥渇air for the Chinese.鈥�
Why has TikTok remained available?
Spurred by fears that the Chinese government could gain access to TikTok users鈥� personal data, Congress overwhelmingly passed the ban in April 2024. The law prohibits the distribution of TikTok as long as it has ownership based in a country designated as a 鈥渇oreign adversary.鈥�
The of the law did give the president the ability to grant a 鈥�1-time extension of not more than 90 days鈥� before enforcing the ban 鈥� if there has been 鈥渟ignificant progress鈥� on divesting the app from its Chinese owner. The president must also certify this progress to Congress.
On April 4 鈥� when the original extension was set to expire 鈥� Mr. Trump announced he would allow TikTok to keep running for another 75 days, exceeding the 90-day limit set by Congress. He passed a third extension in June, set to expire Sept. 17.
TikTok has seen several wealthy bidders in the interim, including companies like Amazon and Oracle. U.S. government officials have twice indicated that TikTok was close to having a buyer, only to have negotiations with the Chinese government fizzle out.
In late July, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in an interview on CNBC that TikTok would go dark in September if China didn鈥檛 give the U.S. more control over the app by the next deadline. On Aug. 19, however, the White House launched its own TikTok account. The following day, the Chinese Communist Party published an in which they expressed hope that Mr. Trump would extend his nonenforcement of the ban indefinitely.
Can the president ignore a law passed by Congress?
After President Joe Biden signed the TikTok ban into law in 2024, TikTok sued the federal government. The case went to the Supreme Court, and all nine members upheld the ban as constitutional.
When Mr. Trump ordered the second extension of the ban in April, Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote to executives of technology companies like Apple, saying the companies would not be held liable for distributing the app.
Ms. Bondi also said Mr. Trump had decided an abrupt shutdown of TikTok would interfere with the president鈥檚 responsibilities over national security and foreign policy. In other words, she asserted that the president had the prerogative to nullify the law鈥檚 effects.
In March, several Democratic members of Congress 鈥� who opposed the TikTok ban 鈥� wrote to express their concern that the administration was 鈥渋gnoring the requirements in the law.鈥� A few Republican members have also expressed discontent, with Sen. Chuck Grassley telling reporters in June that he wanted to 鈥渒now that the Congress isn鈥檛 being played.鈥�
Daniel Farber, the author of 鈥淐ontested Ground: How To Understand the Limits of Presidential Power,鈥� says Congress鈥� ability to push back on this is limited. One avenue members could take would be to try to coerce Mr. Trump by refusing to confirm his appointees or to fund something he wants until he enforces the law.
However, there appears to be little political will in Congress to take direct action to try and enforce the ban.
What does delayed enforcement mean for the balance of powers?
Presidents are sometimes able to exercise legal discretion about which laws to enforce, says Alan Rozenshtein, a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School. That鈥檚 in the same way that a police officer might decide not to pull someone over for going slightly over the speed limit.
But according to Ms. Bondi鈥檚 letters, Mr. Trump is not making a claim about discretion. Instead, she told companies they had made 鈥渘o violation of the Act.鈥� In other words, the administration wasn鈥檛 just going to look the other way if technology companies distributed TikTok 鈥� it openly asserted that the companies weren鈥檛 breaking the law.
Mr. Farber says that鈥檚 a critical distinction.
鈥淚t鈥檚 true that the president has the right to prioritize laws, but that doesn鈥檛 mean that he can simply decide that he doesn鈥檛 like some laws and is not going to enforce them at all,鈥� he says.
There is a theoretical basis for the administration鈥檚 argument that it doesn鈥檛 have to enforce a law it says will interfere with the president鈥檚 constitutional responsibilities, says Mr. Rozenshtein.
For example, Congress can鈥檛 pass a law saying the president is not the commander in chief (as the Constitution explicitly states he is). A Supreme Court case during the Obama administration said the president didn鈥檛 have to follow a law of Congress that would鈥檝e required him to recognize Jerusalem as part of Israel.
But according to Mr. Rozenshtein, Mr. Trump鈥檚 claim that he can overrule a TikTok ban passed by Congress because it involves national security takes that argument to an unworkable level.
鈥淏y that logic, almost anything that had any relation to foreign affairs or other countries could interfere with the president鈥檚 constitutional powers,鈥� he says.
And he doesn鈥檛 think the fact that Mr. Trump reached a deal changes anything.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 pick and choose,鈥� he says. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 say, I鈥檓 going to let the president disobey the laws only when it will lead to a good outcome.鈥�
