WASHINGTON/BEIJING: The United States and China have reached a preliminary agreement on the future of TikTok, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday, raising hopes of resolving years of dispute over the app’s Chinese ownership.
Bessent confirmed that the two sides had agreed on a “framework for a TikTok deal” after trade talks in Madrid. “I think the framework is for it to switch to US-controlled ownership,” he said, without providing further details.
President Donald Trump is scheduled to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday to “complete” the agreement. Trump also celebrated the breakthrough on Truth Social, writing: “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!”
The announcement comes just days before a Wednesday deadline requiring TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell its US operations or face a nationwide ban. The deadline has already been extended multiple times.
If finalized, the deal would end a years-long standoff that has seen TikTok accused of posing national security risks — including fears Beijing could exploit the app for data collection on Americans or as a propaganda tool.
Last year, Congress passed a law mandating TikTok’s sale, a measure upheld by the Supreme Court. Trump, however, has so far declined to enforce it, instead seeking a negotiated solution — a move some legal experts say tests the limits of executive authority.
Earlier negotiations in April nearly produced a plan to bring in new US investors, including major private equity and venture capital firms, but talks faltered after Beijing objected to fresh US tariffs.
Bessent declined to elaborate on the commercial terms of the new deal, saying only that “it’s between two private parties” and that the core details had been agreed upon. TikTok did not immediately comment.
