Trump, Xi talk to finalize TikTok plan

by · UPI

Sept. 18 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping began a phone call Friday morning to finalize their agreement about what to do with TikTok.

Trump and Xi held a call beginning at 8 a.m. EDT that was expeccted to finalize the deal that is reportedly set to see a consortium of U.S. venture capital firms, private equity funds and tech companies operate the app.

Trump extended the deadline Tuesday for TikTok owner ByteDance to separate out its American operations to avoid a ban in the United States as it was reported investors led by Oracle, Horowitz and Silver Lake would own around 80% of a new U.S. company that will run TikTok's American operation, with the remaining stake owned by Chinese shareholders.

In his visit to Britain this week, Trump said he wants to keep TikTok in the United States.

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"We're speaking to President Xi on Friday to see if we can finalize something on TikTok, because there is tremendous value, and I hate to give away value, but I like TikTok," Trump said at Chequers, the British prime minister's weekend residence in Aylesbury, England.

Trump also said that the United States would get a "tremendous fee" for its part in brokering the deal.

Former President Joe Biden signed a bill that would push TikTok out due to security concerns in April 2024, with ByteDance initially facing a Jan. 19 deadline to divest or face a U.S. ban.

But Trump extended that deadline on his first day in office, and he has done so three more times since then.

China said it wanted to reach an agreement because "this consensus serves the interests of both sides," Li Chenggang, China's vice minister of commerce, said in Madrid on Monday. "The two teams will continue to maintain close communication, negotiate on the details of the outcome document, and each will fulfill its domestic approval procedures," a Chinese diplomatic release said.