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US President Donald Trump on Monday hinted that a deal has been reached with China for TikTok to continue operating in the American market, just ahead of the September 17 deadline his administration had set for the Chinese app to comply with US ownership terms.
Trump did not mention names or details but posted on Truth Social: “A deal was also reached on a ‘certain’ company that young people in our country very much wanted to save.”
He also said he will be speaking with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday.
“The big Trade Meeting in Europe between The United States of America, and China, has gone VERY WELL! It will be concluding shortly,” Trump wrote. There was no confirmation from China, while the two sides held talks for a trade deal in Spain.
The agenda expressly included the fate of the social media giant, for which the US is the biggest market, while a sister app owned also by Chinese company ByteDance dominates the home market.
What did US want from TikTok, ownership, China?
Specifically, the US wanted divestment from TikTok by ByteDance to move to majority US ownership.
US officials had earlier said they would go ahead with a ban on the short-video app if China did not drop its demands for lower trade tariffs among other points. This was part of a round of broader talks on tariffs and economic policy taking place in Madrid.
Speaking to reporters earlier, US treasury secretary Scott Bessent and trade representative Jamieson Greer said China wanted concessions on trade and technology in exchange for agreeing to divest from the popular social media app.
Bessent had said extending the TikTok divestment deadline would depend on how talks went.
Why banning TikTok has been difficult for US
China has been reluctant to divest from TikTok because it would open the door for more forced sales of Chinese companies in the West, said Alicia Garcia-Herrero, a Taiwan-based senior fellow at think tank Bruegel.
For the US, too, banning TikTok could be difficult because of the young voters that use it, Garcia-Herrero said. Trump also spoke of the company that “young people in our country very much wanted to save”, adding weight to this argument.
What the Chinese have said so far
The negotiations in Madrid, which began on Sunday, are the fourth round of talks in four months to address strained trade ties.
They take place as Washington demands that its allies place tariffs on imports from China over Chinese purchases of Russian oil, which Beijing on Monday said was an attempt at coercion. India has also faced US tariffs over the same reason — something that has led to an India-China thaw in relations.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian had said China had no new information to give. “Regarding TikTok, China has repeatedly stated its position,” Lin said at a press conference in Beijing on Monday.
And, in what is widely seen as a retaliatory shot, China’s market regulator said on Monday that a preliminary investigation of Nvidia had found the US chip giant had violated its anti-monopoly law.
(with inputs from Reuters)
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