U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in an interview with CNBC on Thursday that TikTok will be forced to cease operations in the United States if China does not approve a deal to sell the Chinese-owned short video app, which is used by about 170 million Americans.

Latnick said the United States should control the algorithm that makes the social media platform work. Last month, President Donald Trump extended by 90 days until Sept. 17 the deadline for Chinese company ByteDance to withdraw TikTok's assets in the United States.

Trump's action was taken in defiance of the 2024 Act, which mandated the sale or shutdown of the company by Jan. 19 of this year unless significant progress is made.

"China may get a small stake and ByteDance, the current owner, may keep a small portion. But essentially, the Americans will have control. The Americans will own the technology and the Americans will control the algorithm," Latnick said. - If this deal is approved by the Chinese, it will go through. If they don't approve it, then TikTok will close, and those decisions will be made very soon."