The US and China have agreed on a framework to transfer TikTok to American-controlled ownership, US trade officials confirmed on Monday. Treasury secretary Scott Bessent said the commercial terms were settled but withheld details, noting they were between private parties.
Chinese negotiator Li Chenggang confirmed both sides had reached consensus on resolving TikTok issues through cooperation. The deal marks progress in a dispute fueled by Washington’s security concerns over TikTok’s Chinese parent, ByteDance.
President Joe Biden had signed legislation requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok within nine months or face a ban, though Donald Trump repeatedly extended the deadline. Earlier acquisition talks with Microsoft, Walmart, and Oracle collapsed, though Oracle has remained TikTok’s cloud provider since 2022.
Final details will be decided when Trump meets Xi Jinping on Friday, with officials stressing that no further extensions will follow. The US has over 135 million TikTok users, including the White House, despite federal bans on the app for government devices.
