The notification to Congress by the Treasury secretary is the clearest sign yet that the fight to avoid default will likely take place in the early months of the new Trump administration.
The filing suggests that Trump may believe that the law infringes on the First Amendment rights of TikTok and its 170 million users. The case pits national security concerns against First Amendment protections.
The president-elect took no position on the app’s First Amendment challenge to the law, which sets a Jan. 19 deadline to sell or close the popular platform.