Trump Trade: Trump expected to extend deadline for TikTok sale

Catch up on the top industries and stocks that were impacted, or were predicted to be impacted, by the comments, actions and policies of President Donald Trump with this daily recap compiled by The Fly:

TIKTOK DEAL: The Trump administration is expected to extend its September 17 deadline for ByteDance to divest the U.S. assets of its TikTok app or shut it down, David Shepardson and Jarrett Renshaw of Reuters report, citing a source familiar with the matter. This would be the fourth reprieve granted by President Donald Trump from federal enforcement of a law that originally required ByteDance to sell or shut down TikTok by January 2025. Publicly traded companies in the social media space include Meta Platforms (META), Pinterest (PINS), Reddit (RDDT) and Snap (SNAP).

The U.S. and China are nearing an agreement on TikTok, but a deal could depend on Chinese demands for trade concessions, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says, Reuters’ David Lawder and Pietro Lombardi report. The U.S. and China delegations are discussing the divestment from TikTok by Chinese owner Bytedance as part of broader talks on tariffs and economic policy. “Our Chinese counterparts have come with a very aggressive ask,” Bessent told reporters alongside U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

A framework for a deal on TikTok had been reached in trade talks with China in Madrid, in a move that would pave the way for a switch to U.S. ownership, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday, Reuters’ David Lawder and Pietro Lombardi report. Further details will be determined in a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese Premier Xi Jinping when they speak on Friday, Bessent said.

TRADE MEETING: President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post, “The big Trade Meeting in Europe between The United States of America, and China, has gone VERY WELL! It will be concluding shortly. A deal was also reached on a ‘certain’ company that young people in our Country very much wanted to save. They will be very happy! I will be speaking to President Xi on Friday. The relationship remains a very strong one!!! President DJT”

TARIFFS: Whirlpool (WHR) told the Trump administration that overseas competitors may be evading tariff bills by undervaluing their imports, John Keilman of The Wall Street Journal reports. Its claims are based on federal data from import paperwork, which shows garbage disposals from China dropped from an average of $21 the first few months of the year to $9 in June, gas ranges from Thailand more than halved to $175, and washing machines from South Korea sank from $838 to $73, according to the Journal’s review of data.

COVID SHOTS: Health officials in the Trump Administration plan to link coronavirus vaccines to the deaths of 25 children as they consider limiting which Americans should get the shots, according to The Washington Post, citing four people familiar with the situation. COVID-19 vaccine makers include Moderna (MRNA), Pfizer (PFE) and BioNTech (BNTX) and Novavax (NVAX).

TRUMP ALLIES: UnitedHealth (UNH) has begun hiring allies of President Donald Trump and is trying to plead its case to top officials in his administration as the company faces more government investigations and changes in federal payments, Josh Dawsey, Christopher Weaver, and Anna Wilde Mathews of The Wall Street Journal report. After being faces with a criminal investigation into its key Medicare business, UnitedHealth met with senior Justice Department officials to discuss probes of the company, people familiar with the meeting told the Journal. Additionally, CEO Stephen Hemsley recently met with White House chief of staff to discuss Medicare and other issues, a White House official said.

MEETING WITH TRUMP: Union Pacific (UNP) said in a statement that its CEO Jim Vena met with President Trump to discuss the company’s pending takeover of Norfolk Southern (NSC). Vena and and the president discussed “how creating an American transcontinental railroad is a win for U.S. competition, consumers, and the unionized workers whose jobs will be protected when the merger is approved,” Union Pacific said. “They also addressed the safety and security of all Americans, and that we regularly collaborate with communities to keep our employees and customers’ cargo safe,” it added.