In a surprising development, President Trump hinted on Friday that China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, had given the green light to a deal for TikTok to separate from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance.
Taking to Truth Social after a phone call with Mr. Xi, Trump posted, “The call was a very good one, we will be speaking again by phone, appreciate the TikTok approval.” He also mentioned “progress on many very important issues,” including the TikTok deal, without offering further specifics.
A statement from a Chinese state-run news agency mirrored this ambiguity, though President Xi did seem to favor a commercial resolution for TikTok. The report stated that the Chinese government “respects the wishes of the company in question and is glad to see business negotiations in line with market rules and a solution that conforms to Chinese laws and regulations and takes into account the interests of both sides.”
TikTok’s future in the United States has been hanging in the balance since January, when a federal law mandated the company either find a non-Chinese owner or face an outright ban. This legislation aimed to quell national security fears that the app’s ownership could enable Beijing to spread propaganda or gather sensitive user data. President Trump has already extended this deadline four times.
For several months, ByteDance has been in discussions to spin off TikTok’s American operations into a new entity. This move involves bringing in new U.S. investors, such as software giant Oracle, to reduce its Chinese ownership and meet legal requirements. Sources familiar with the talks indicate that the lineup of potential investors has been fluid.
ByteDance released its own statement on Friday, expressing gratitude to both leaders for “their efforts to preserve TikTok in the United States.” The company affirmed its commitment to “work in accordance with applicable laws to ensure TikTok remains available to American users through TikTok U.S.”
The popular app’s fate has also become intertwined with broader trade discussions between the United States and China, covering issues like tariffs and China’s mineral supply. In his Friday post, Trump announced plans to meet Xi at a South Korea summit this fall, followed by a visit to China early next year, with Xi reciprocating.
Historically, President Trump has announced significant deals that ultimately didn’t fully materialize. This year alone, he’s heralded numerous trade agreements, only for some foreign partners to later dispute the terms he outlined. Several, like the deals Trump announced with Vietnam and South Korea in July, are still incomplete.
His past agreements with China haven’t always held firm either. In 2020, Trump unveiled a trade deal where China was supposed to purchase an additional $200 billion in American goods and services by 2021. However, a 2022 analysis of trade data revealed that China had only fulfilled 57 percent of those promised exports.
On Thursday, Trump revealed another detail about the TikTok agreement: the United States would receive a “tremendous fee” for brokering the deal. If this comes to pass, it would mark another instance of government involvement in corporate transactions. Recently, the Trump administration has negotiated for and acquired a 10 percent stake in Intel, and a “golden share” in U.S. Steel as part of its sale to Nippon Steel.
The “framework” for a deal to keep TikTok operating in the U.S. was initially announced by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent at a news conference in Madrid on Monday.
Previously, Chinese officials had publicly pledged to oppose any forced sale of TikTok. In 2020, China even updated its export control list to include critical technologies like algorithms and source codes.
Li Chenggang, China’s vice minister of commerce, explained in Madrid that China agreed to a TikTok deal with the U.S. because “this consensus serves the interests of both sides,” as reported by Chinese state media.
Just one day before TikTok’s deadline to separate from ByteDance, President Trump granted an extension — the fourth this year — pushing it to mid-December. With his latest suggestion of a deal approval, this extension might just be the final one.