The US treasury secretary has announced that Washington reached a framework deal with China on the ownership of TikTok's American operations.
Scott Bessent stated that the framework was negotiated during trade talks in Madrid, aiming to facilitate US ownership. He indicated that US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to finalize the deal on Friday.
Trump expressed on Truth Social that the talks had gone very well, while China confirmed a framework agreement but emphasized that no deal would compromise the interests of Chinese companies.
A deadline is approaching for ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese owner, to find a buyer for its US operations or face a ban in the US.
Bessent announced the deal as the second day of negotiations commenced to address ongoing trade tensions.
He mentioned that the risk of TikTok being banned in the US had pushed Chinese negotiators to concede on certain tariffs that would have otherwise hindered the sale.
The terms discussed purportedly aim to safeguard US national security interests.
US trade representative Jamieson Greer, part of the delegation in Madrid, noted that the deal remains subject to the leaders' approval, emphasizing that repetitive extensions of the ban are not feasible.
China's chief trade negotiator, Li Chenggang, affirmed that any agreement would not come at the cost of China's principles or the interests of its enterprises, adding that their leadership will thoroughly review any proposed deal.
In January, the US Supreme Court upheld a law demanding the sale of TikTok's US division by its parent company or face a ban.
The US Justice Department categorized TikTok's access to the data of American users as a significant national security threat. ByteDance has consistently maintained that its US operations are fully independent of Chinese government influence, arguing that a ban would violate the free speech rights of its 170 million American users.
TikTok briefly went offline in January after the law took effect before Trump intervened with a temporary pause on the ban.
Several potential buyers have been discussed, including Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and YouTube creator MrBeast.
On the second day of negotiations, Bessent reiterated that the agreement respects US national security issues, though details remain sparse, leading some experts to question how US data will be managed post-deal.
Experts caution about remaining vulnerabilities, especially concerning TikTok's algorithm and user data management, with implications for China's interests in AI development.
