Latest news with #nationalSecurity
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump says he will 'probably' extend upcoming TikTok deadline
US President Trump tells reporters he will "probably" extend the TikTok deadline, providing the wildly popular social media platform owned by China's ByteDance additional time to resolve concerns about national security risks and avoid a ban, according to AP News. Yahoo Finance Tech Editor Dan Howley joins Catalysts with Brad Smith to take a look at the latest as the TikTok ban deadline approaches. Check out Yahoo Finance's interview with X CEO Linda Yaccarino here, as well as other content from the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity here. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Catalysts here. Just days ahead of the deadline for Bite Dance to divest from Tick Tock or see the app banned in the US, President Trump says he's open to extending the deadline yet again here. The president telling reporters, he probably will extend the deadline if Chinese president she agrees. Speaking with Yahoo Finance executive editor, Brian Sozzi today at Can Lions, Linda Yaccarino, ex-CEO, voice support for the measure. We don't believe any social media platform should be banned. We don't think it's good for the ecosystem. And, and look at us, you know, protecting free speech around the world. And we hope and, uh, uh, you know, we hope that they'll work things out and it'll be part of the ecosystem. Joining me now with more, we've got Yahoo Finance tech editor, Dan Howley. So, what would the extension mean for Tik Tok? Basically that they get yet another last minute reprieve. They originally went offline in January during the transition from the Biden to Trump administration. At that point, Biden had basically gone hands off with Tik Tok. Trump was able to extend that deadline until April. That deadline came and went. He then extended the deal timeline again. And now he's doing it a third time because they haven't been able to get a deal together with who would purchase the stake in Tik Tok as Bite Dance divest from it. That's the key thing is that Bite Dance, a Chinese owned company, divest Tik Tok itself. And whether or not China will sign off on that, that's also a major part of that. Obviously, Brad, you're pointing out that Trump had said he believes that President Xi would go ahead and do that. But that still remains up in the air. A lot of this seems to be tied to the ongoing trade negotiations. There were prior reports that the President Xi was open to that kind of deal. But then once those tariffs came out, said, that's kind of off the table now until we figure this out. So, really, this is going to continue to be, I think, a back and forth. We'll see how many times this can be extended. I think that's also another question that a lot of people are asking is how long can this possibly get kicked down the road? At this point, it seems as though it can just keep on going every few months. But really, I think at a certain point, there needs to be some kind of agreement as to whether or not someone takes a stake in Tik Tok. There have been plenty of names bandied about, Elon Musk, Larry Ellison, Mr. Beast for some reason. And so these are all kind of the questions that we're wondering. Still, 170 million users in the US, it's nothing to sneeze at obviously. Tik Tok, huge, huge social media company. I don't think Linda Yaccarino, though, would be truly upset if Tik Tok went offline. That just means less competition, same thing with Mark Zuckerberg and Meta. Yeah, perhaps would be more alarmed with the precedent that it might set. But I understand, of course, as we do know that X and Elon Musk have had a cozier relationship to the Trump administration than Tik Tok over time here. We'll continue to watch that. Dan, thanks so much for breaking this down. Yes. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Wall Street Journal
a day ago
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Trump Delays TikTok Ban for a Third Time
WASHINGTON—President Trump gave TikTok another 90-day reprieve Thursday, issuing an executive order deferring enforcement of the 2024 law requiring the Chinese-controlled video app to be sold or shut down for national security reasons. The TikTok ban was set to take effect on Jan. 19, but Trump has issued a series of extensions that have allowed the app to continue operating. The most recent extension expired Thursday.
BBC News
a day ago
- Business
- BBC News
Trump confirms further delay to TikTok ban or sale deadline
President Donald Trump has extended the deadline for TikTok's sale in the US for a further 90 video-sharing app has faced questions over its future after the US passed a law last year requiring the app to be banned unless sold by its Chinese parent company, said it posed a risk to national security - something TikTok who vowed to save TikTok during his presidential campaign, signed an executive order on Thursday which has delayed the date for enforcing the law for a third a statement, TikTok said it was "grateful for President Trump's leadership and support" in keeping the app online for its 170m US users. "We continue to work with Vice President Vance's Office," it added.A deal for the sale of TikTok in the US by ByteDance must now be reached by 17 September, Trump said in a post on his platform Truth Social. The further delay was an expected development in the long-running process of securing a buyer for is thought the authorities in Beijing will need to approve any sale or part sale of the app by its parent law was prompted by fears in the US that TikTok or ByteDance could be forced to hand over data on US users by the Chinese said on Tuesday he expected there would be a further House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday that a further 90-day extension would "ensure this deal is closed so that the American people can continue to use TikTok with the assurance that their data is safe and secure."
CNN
2 days ago
- Politics
- CNN
Analysis: Trump keeps everyone guessing on whether he'll go to war in Iran — perhaps including himself
He might do it. But he might not. And you've got no idea whether he will. Then again, neither does he. Donald Trump's riffing ahead of the most wrenching national security decision in either of his presidencies is nothing like the complex war-gaming and careful tilling of public opinion that most commanders in chief require before they send Americans off to fight. Trump's vague soliloquies and ambiguous comments, on camera and online, seem glib and even negligent given the grave potential consequences of a US attack on Iran's nuclear sites. But it's how he rolls. He wants to keep friends and foes guessing. He's shown that he believes unpredictability and volatility — factors that most presidents seek to avoid in national security crises — offer him a key advantage. Trump loves to be the center of attention with the world hanging on his every word. His equivocating creates space for him to postpone the moment of decision and to avoid locking in definitive courses of action he can't reverse. His fans say it's genius. But there's not much evidence that strategy transfers from a real estate magnate's boardroom to complex geopolitical showdowns and global peacemaking. Iran's ayatollahs, Israel, US allies, members of Congress, pundits, reporters and Americans watching at home can never be certain what Trump might do next. And no modern president has ever managed the run-up to a possible war as though he is sketching a series of cliffhangers to compel viewers to watch the next episode. Trump is no JFK calmly averting nuclear war with high-pressure diplomatic chess during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Trump's critics have dreaded the moment when he'd face the kind of international crisis he largely avoided during his first term. And his style has serious drawbacks. His administration has yet to take the American people into its confidence and explain why it has suddenly changed its view that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon. Now, Trump says it's weeks away from one. There's no sign the administration intends to seek authorization from Congress for a possible new act of war against Iran — as the Constitution requires. And it's refusing to say whether it's gamed out how an attack on Iran's nuclear plant at Fordow could reverberate through a treacherous region and whether it has any kind of exit strategy. This would be troubling in isolation. But following Washington's disastrous history of plunging into quagmires caused by paltry planning for the day after shock-and-awe beginnings, it's tempting fate. And Trump's serial dishonesty and scorched-earth leadership style mean millions of Americans will need a lot more than his word to trust any decision to wage military action. The president's plans might be a mystery. But his calculation is a simple one. He must decide whether US interests are served by joining Israel's assault on Iran to try to destroy the Islamic Republic's nuclear program with unique bunker-busting capabilities that only the United States possesses. It's a tough call because of the potential consequences: Iranian attacks on US bases in the Middle East, potential terrorist attacks on US targets, and a shockwave that could destabilize the world if the regime in Tehran collapses. The latest developments are ominous. A third US aircraft carrier group is moving toward the Middle East. A fierce war of words between Trump and Iran's clerical leaders is heating up. And the president is huddling in daily Situation Room meetings with his top national security aides. CNN reported on Wednesday that the president is preoccupied with finding a way to strike key targets of Iran's nuclear program without being dragged into a full-scale war. Sources familiar with the matter said he wants to avoid the kind of open-ended conflict like those in Iraq and Afghanistan that he's vowed to avoid and that he used as a catalyst for his rise among MAGA voters skeptical of war. These revelations might offer Americans some comfort since they suggest that the president is weighing the implications of his decisions with greater diligence than his offhand patter suggests. There's some logic to his position. No one expects Trump to put US troops on the ground — they could be a sitting target in Iran or in any post-war failed state insurgency, as happened in Iraq and Afghanistan. Trump's first-term assassination raid that killed Iranian intelligence chief Qasem Soleimani didn't unleash fury against US targets that many analysts expected. And US bases in the region are heavily defended against missile attacks. There's also some question about how much Iran's degraded military can now throw at the US and Israel. But US foreign policy of the last 25 years is haunted by false assumptions about the behavior of adversaries when they are attacked. As Trump said himself last month in Saudi Arabia, US officials were often meddling in societies they didn't understand. So, it's fair to ask whether Trump has any idea what he's getting into. A watching world is no wiser after the president's public appearances Wednesday. 'I mean, you don't know that I'm going to even do it. You don't know. I may do it, I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I'm going to do,' Trump told reporters who asked him about his plans for Iran as he unveiled two massive flagpoles at the White House. 'Nothing's finished until it's finished. You know, war is very complex. A lot of bad things can happen. A lot of turns are made.' Later, in the Oval Office, Trump told CNN's Kaitlan Collins that he hadn't made a final decision on what to do as he's besieged by pressure for action by Israelis and warnings from his own MAGA base to stay out of foreign wars. 'I have ideas as to what to do, but I haven't made a final — I like to make the final decision one second before it's due, you know, because things change.' Trump's lack of precision worries Democrats. 'It's obviously unclear where his head is at right now. I think he was pretty indecisive on the subject of Iran, which I can understand,' California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff said on 'The Situation Room.' 'This is a difficult call. But I don't think we got much guidance as to whether he is optimistic about talks with Iran leaning in towards a potential strike on Iran,' Schiff said, reacting to one of Trump's meandering press availabilities. 'It was pretty nebulous, the kind of usual stream-of-consciousness.' There's confusion about conflicting intelligence assessments in the US and Israel about Iran's nuclear progress. Virginia Democratic Sen. Mark Warner is part of a group of senior lawmakers who are given access to the most sensitive classified information. But he's as much in the dark as anyone about what's next. 'I'm a member … of the Gang of Eight. We're supposed to know,' Warner told CNN's Kasie Hunt. 'I have no foggy idea what this administration's plans are or what the foreign policy is vis-a-vis Iran.' The question of the administration's contingency planning is also coming into focus. But don't expect any details. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was confronted by Michigan Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin during a hearing on Wednesday. Slotkin speaks from experience: She was a CIA officer who completed combat tours in Baghdad after the George W. Bush administration's disastrous lack of forethought for how to win peace in Iraq. 'Have you commissioned any day-after planning?' Slotkin asked. 'Any force protection, any use of ground troops, in Iran; any cost assessments, because I don't think we doubt what we can do as a country, and in the attack. It's the day after with Iraq and Afghanistan that so many of us have learned to be so deeply concerned about. Hegseth reacted with disdain. 'We have plans for everything, Senator,' he said. Trump showed similar hubris. 'I have a plan for everything, but we'll see what happens,' he told reporters on the Oval Office. The president also says he's open to diplomacy. But there's no sign of a James Baker-style peace shuttle. Far from offering his adversary a face-saving off-ramp. Trump is demanding total surrender at the outset. While this may match Israel's goals, it's a nonstarter for Iran's revolutionary corps of leaders in Tehran, who've founded their regime on more than 45 years of defying successive American presidents. Trump often seems to be operating in a parallel universe. He for instance insists Iranian leaders wanted to meet and 'to come to the White House.' Iran strongly denied any such aspirations. 'We are not begging for anything,' Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi told CNN's Christiane Amanpour. 'As long as the aggression continues, as long as this brutality continues, we cannot think of engaging.' This points to one of the liabilities of Trump's diplomacy, which also helps explained his failed Ukraine peace drive. His administration shows little skill in creating openings and multilayered negotiating scenarios that can loosen entrenched positions. Trump makes maximalist demands. When interlocutors demur, the process grinds to a halt. So, for now, the country seems on a path to another venture in the Middle East, with uncertain consequences. But Trump had one more cliffhanger. 'Anything could happen,' he said, when asked if the regime in Iran could fall in a response which exemplifies his entire presidency.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Tariffs boost strategic importance of U.S. Steel deal, Nippon Steel CEO says
TOKYO (Reuters) -The U.S. administration's policy shift to introduce high tariffs will increase the strategic importance of Nippon Steel's business development in the U.S. market, the top Japanese steelmaker's CEO, Eiji Hashimoto, said on Thursday. Hashimoto was speaking at a press conference in Tokyo a day after Nippon Steel closed its $14.9 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel, confirming an unusual degree of power for President Donald Trump after the Japanese company's 18-month struggle to close the purchase. The companies also disclosed details of a national security agreement inked with the Trump administration, which gives the president the authority to name a board member as well as a non-economic golden share. The measures represent an unusual level of control conceded by the companies to the government to save the deal, after a rocky path to approval spurred by high-level political opposition.
