Trump Says TikTok Deal Has Been Reached but China Is Less Committal

The United States and China have reportedly agreed on the framework of a deal to bring TikTok under majority U.S. ownership.

U.S. and Chinese officials said today that a tentative agreement has been reached that will see Chinese company Bytedance sell TikTok to a yet-unnamed U.S. ownership group, Reuters reports. The latest deadline extension for TikTok to sell to U.S. ownership is tomorrow, September 17. However, thus far, no deadline has actually mattered aside from the one in January when TikTok went briefly offline.

The can has been repeatedly kicked down the road. However, this latest news, shared by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent following a meeting with Chinese officials in Spain, is as close as any potential TikTok sale agreement has come during these many months of negotiations. That said, Bessent noted that tomorrow’s deadline could be extended another 90 days to iron out the details of a deal.

President Trump and President Xi are expected to discuss the deal when they meet on Friday. The two will also likely be discussing other big U.S.-China news: China determining in a preliminary probe that leading American chipmaker Nvidia violated Chinese anti-monopoly regulations. Bessent characterized the timing of the Nvidia news out of China as poor, but there doesn’t appear to be concern about China’s findings derailing ongoing TikTok negotiations.

Bessent refused to provide many concrete details about the TikTok ownership framework, but noted that any agreement would comply with U.S. demands concerning national security. Bessent also stated that China had some “very aggressive” demands as part of the negotiations, The New York Times reports.

However, TikTok will preserve “Chinese characteristics” under U.S.-based ownership.

“They’re interested in Chinese characteristics of the app, which they think are soft power. We don’t care about Chinese characteristics. We care about national security,” Bessent said to a group of reporters in Madrid.

President Trump commented about the agreement on Truth Social as well:

“A deal was also reached on a ‘certain’ company that young people in our Country very much wanted to save,” Trump wrote earlier today. “They will be very happy! I will be speaking to President Xi on Friday. The relationship remains a very strong one!!!”

The Chinese side was more tepid in describing the framework agreement. Top Chinese negotiator Li Chenggang said the two sides had “basic framework consensus,” while also noting that the U.S. government’s broader attacks on China, both blocking shipments of semiconductors to China and preventing certain Chinese products from entering the U.S., were “unilateral bullying.”

Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.