US commerce secretary says Trump really likes TikTok, but app has to move to US ownership

FILE PHOTO: A man films a TikTok video outside the U.S. headquarters of the social media company TikTok in Culver City, California, U.S. January 18,2025. REUTERS/Fred Greaves/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump likes TikTok but the Chinese-owned short video app, used by some 170 million Americans, has to move to U.S. ownership, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said on Sunday.

"The President really likes TikTok, and he said it over and over again, because, you know, it was a good way to communicate with young people," Lutnick said in an interview on Fox News Sunday with Shannon Bream.