Little known as advances reported in TikTok battle

The Trump administration announced that it has reached a framework deal with China for the ownership of the popular social video platform TikTok.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a press conference after the latest round of trade talks between the world’s top two economies concluded in Madrid that the US president and President of China Xi Jinping would speak on Friday to possibly finalise the deal. He said the objective of the deal would be to switch to American ownership.

He did not disclose the terms of the deal, saying that it is between two private parties, but added that “the commercial terms have been agreed upon”.

Little is known about the actual deal in the works, including what companies are involved and whether the United States would have a stake in TikTok. Li Chenggang, China’s international trade representative, said the two sides have reached “basic framework consensus” to properly solve TikTok-related issues in a cooperative way, reduce investment barriers and promote related economic and trade cooperation, according to China’s official news agency Xinhua.

Oracle Corp has been floated as a likely buyer for the platform. Representatives for the company did not immediately respond to a message for comment on Monday.

Wang Jingtao, deputy director of China’s Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission, told reporters in Madrid there was consensus on authorisation of “the use of intellectual property rights such as (TikTok’s) algorithm” – a main sticking point in the deal.

The sides also agreed on entrusting a partner with handling US user data and content security, he said.

Though he has no clear legal basis to do so, Trump has continued to extend the deadline for TikTok to avoid a ban in the US. This gives his administration more time to broker a deal to bring the social media platform under American ownership. The next deadline is today, September 17, and Trump has already signalled he would extend it if needed.

For now, TikTok continues to function for its 170 million users in the US. Tech giants Apple, Google and Oracle were persuaded to continue to offer and support the app, on the promise that Trump’s Justice Department would not use the law to seek potentially steep fines against them.

AP