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The U.S. and China have reached a “framework” deal for social media platform TikTok, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent mentioned Monday.
“It is between two non-public events, however the industrial phrases have been agreed upon,” he mentioned from U.S.-China talks in Madrid.
Each President Donald Trump and Chinese language President Xi Jinping will converse on Friday to debate the phrases. Trump additionally mentioned in a Fact Social publish Monday {that a} deal was reached “on a ‘sure’ firm that younger individuals in our Nation very a lot wished to avoid wasting.”
Bessent indicated the framework may pivot the platform to U.S.-controlled possession.
TikTok didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
China’s lead commerce negotiator, Li Chenggang, confirmed the framework deal was in place and mentioned the U.S. mustn’t proceed to suppress Chinese language corporations, based on Reuters.
The remarks got here in the course of the newest spherical of commerce discussions between the U.S. and China. Relations have soured between the 2 nations in current months from Trump’s tariffs and different commerce restrictions.
On the similar time, TikTok mother or father firm ByteDance faces a Sept. 17 deadline to divest the platform’s U.S. enterprise or doubtlessly be shut down within the nation.
U.S. Commerce Consultant Jamieson Greer mentioned Monday that the deadline could have to be pushed again to get the deal signed, however there will not be ongoing extensions.
Congress handed a legislation final yr prohibiting app retailer operators like Apple and Google from distributing TikTok within the U.S. on account of its “international adversary-controlled software” standing.
However Trump postponed the shutdown in January, signing an government order that gave ByteDance 75 extra days to make a deal. Additional extensions got here by means of government orders in April and in June.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick mentioned in July that TikTok would shutter for People if China does not give the U.S. extra autonomy over the favored short-form video app.
As for who controls the platform, Trump instructed Fox Information in June that he had a bunch of “very rich individuals” prepared to purchase the app and will reveal their identities in two weeks. The reveal by no means got here.
He has beforehand mentioned he’d be open to Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison or Tesla CEO Elon Musk shopping for TikTok within the U.S. Synthetic intelligence startup Perplexity has submitted a bid for an acquisition, as has businessman Frank McCourt’s Venture Liberty web advocacy group, CNBC reported in January.
Trump instructed CNBC in an interview final yr that he believed the platform was a nationwide safety risk, though the White Home began a TikTok account in August.