The United States and China reached a framework agreement to transfer the short-video app TikTok to U.S.-controlled ownership. This will be confirmed in a call between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday, according to U.S. officials.
TikTok faced the possibility of being shut down in the U.S. as early as September 17 if its Chinese owner, ByteDance, didn’t agree to divest. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested the deadline could be extended to finalize the deal.
“We’re not going to talk about the commercial terms of the deal. It’s between two private parties, but the commercial terms have been agreed upon,” Bessent told reporters after two days of talks in Madrid.
The negotiations between the U.S. and China at the Spanish foreign ministry’s baroque Palacio de Santa Cruz were the fourth round in four months, aimed at addressing strained trade ties and TikTok’s imminent divestiture deadline.
Trump praised the TikTok deal on Monday.
“The big Trade Meeting in Europe between The United States of America, and China, has gone VERY WELL! It will be concluding shortly,” Trump wrote on his TruthSocial platform.
“A deal was also reached on a “certain” company that young people in our Country very much wanted to save. They will be very happy! I will be speaking to President Xi on Friday. The relationship remains a very strong one!!!”
Delegations led by Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng have been meeting in European cities since May to resolve differences that led U.S. President Trump to raise tariffs on Chinese imports and triggered tit-for-tat measures, including similarly high import duties by China on U.S. goods and a halt in the flow of rare earths to the United States.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who was part of the U.S. delegation in Madrid, said the TikTok deal indicated good faith between the two sides as they continue to discuss other issues such as tariffs and economic policy.
“It’s no secret that there are serious issues on trade, economics, and national security between the United States and China. To be able to come, sit down, quickly identify the issues, narrow them down to a very granular spot, and be able to come to a conclusion, subject to the leaders’ approval, I mean, that is remarkable,” Greer said.
TRUMP, XI TO DISCUSS MEETING
Bessent said talks on other issues would continue, likely in the coming weeks. Trump has repeatedly shown interest in a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Bessent mentioned it was up to the leaders to discuss whether to meet during Friday’s call.
Earlier on Monday, a U.S. official involved in the negotiations stated that the U.S. would proceed with a TikTok ban if China didn’t drop its demands for reduced tariffs and technological restrictions as part of a divestiture deal.
Speaking to reporters, Bessent and Greer mentioned that China wanted concessions on trade and technology in exchange for agreeing to divest from the popular social media app.
“Our Chinese counterparts have come with a very aggressive ask,” Bessent said, adding: “We are not willing to sacrifice national security for a social media app.”
The talks occurred as Washington urged its allies to impose tariffs on imports from China due to Chinese purchases of Russian oil, which Beijing on Monday called an attempt at coercion. Bessent noted the issue of Russia was briefly discussed.
Beijing separately announced on Monday that a preliminary investigation of Nvidia had found the U.S. chip giant violated its anti-monopoly law. Bessent remarked that the announcement on Nvidia was poorly timed.
The probe is widely viewed as a retaliatory move against Washington’s restrictions on the Chinese chip sector.
