Potential TikTok buyers are lining up as President Trump and the Chinese government show heightened interest in striking a deal to sell the popular video-sharing platform in the face of a U.S.

With President Donald Trump back in office, his idea for a TikTok joint venture could set a precedent for how he expects all Chinese companies to operate in the US. On Sunday evening, he posted on Truth Social: “I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture.

TikTok could still not be downloaded from the Apple and Google app stores in the U.S, even after President Trump's executive order.

An executive order is an instruction from the president which has the weight of the law behind it. But Trump's order does not overturn the ban. Instead it tells the US attorney general not to enforce the law for now - something experts had expected would be his first move.

Within hours of his inauguration, President Donald Trump issued an executive order suspending the enforcement of a TikTok ban that had taken effect the previous day. The move tossed a lifeline to TikTok -- and its 170 million users in the United States.