The US treasury secretary has said Washington reached a framework deal with China on the ownership of TikTok's American operations.
Scott Bessent said the framework was set in trade talks in Madrid to pave the way for US ownership. He added that US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping would complete the deal on Friday.
Trump said on Truth Social that the talks had gone very well, while China confirmed a framework agreement but said no deal would be made at the expense of Chinese companies' interests.
A deadline is looming for the Chinese owner of TikTok to find a buyer for its American operations or face a shutdown and ban in the US.
Bessent announced the framework deal on the second day of negotiations between the US and China aimed at ending a trade war.
He said the threat to shut down the social media site in the US had persuaded Chinese negotiators to drop demands for reduced tariffs as part of any deal to sell TikTok's US arm.
The agreed upon commercial terms would protect US national security interests, he added.
US trade representative Jamieson Greer, part of the US delegation in Madrid, said the deal struck was subject to the leaders' approval, but added his team was not... in the business of having repetitive [ban] extensions.
China's top trade negotiator, Li Chenggang, said his country would not reach a deal with the US at the expense of its own principles and Chinese companies' interests. Its leadership would review any deal before it was agreed, he added.
On Monday, Bessent said the deal completely respects US national security concerns. However, details of the agreement remain sparse, leading to skepticism from experts over issues such as control of TikTok's recommendation algorithm and data storage practices.
Sarah Kreps, director of the Tech Policy Institute at Cornell University, emphasized the need for clarity on whether TikTok's US user data would be stored domestically and whether independent audits would be conducted to prevent unauthorized access by Beijing.
US Supreme Court Decision: In January, the US Supreme Court upheld a law passed in April 2024 banning the video-sharing app unless its parent company ByteDance sold its US division. The US Justice Department has admitted TikTok's access to American user data poses significant security threats.
ByteDance claims its US operations are independent, and argues that a ban would violate free speech for its 170 million American users. The deadline for the sale has been extended multiple times, with the current extension ending on September 17.
Potential buyers have included notable figures such as Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and YouTube creator MrBeast.
