AsianFin -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday suggested his administration would finalize a deal with China to keep TikTok alive in the country as the new deadline for a ban looms this week.
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During the “big Trade Meeting” between the U.S. and China, a deal was reached “ on a ‘certain’ company that young people in our Country very much wanted to save,” Donald posted on his social media platform Truth Social. Trump said the meeting held in Spain has gone “VERY WELL” and he will be speaking to Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday.
The meeting Trump mentioned is the fourth round of trade talks between China and the United States that was held from Sunday to Monday in Madrid, Spain. That is also the first time such negotiations have taken place in Europe. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who is leading the U.S. delegation in trade talks with China, told reporters on Monday the Trump administration and China has reached a “framework” for a deal to keep TikTok operational in the U.S.
“I think on the TikTok deal itself, we are very close or we’ve resolved the issue. There are a range of other asks that are unresolved,” Bessent said ahead of talks on Monday. He said both sides made “very good progress” on the technical details of the agreement, but the Chinese delegation has made “very aggressive ask”. “At present, we are not willing to sacrifice our national security for a social-media app,” he added.
Later Monday, Bessent said the framework on TikTok“is for it to switch to U.S.-controlled ownership”, though a final decision would depend on a call between Trump and Chinese leader Xi. “It’s between two private parties, but the commercial terms have been agreed upon,” he said, without providing details about the terms.
Bessent attributed the framework to Trump’s involvement. “President Trump played a role in this, we had a call with him last night, we had specific guidance from him we shared it with our Chinese counterparts,” Bessent said on Monday. “Without his leadership and the leverage he provides, we would not have been able to include the deal today.”
Trump has extended a deadline for TikTok to divest its U.S. assets three times during his second term, and the next deadline is September 17, Wednesday. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who took part in the meeting in Madrid, said Monday that the deadline may need to be pushed back to get the deal signed, but there won’t be ongoing extensions.
“We were very focused on TikTok and making sure that it was a deal that is fair for the Chinese and completely respects US national security concerns, and that’s the deal we reached,” said Greer. “And of course, we want to ensure that the Chinese have a fair, invested environment in the United States, but always that US national security comes first.”
However, Greer indicated there were no major developments in trade discussions, saying talks on “those kinds of things” had been “deferred” to another time.
China on Monday confirmed senior Chinese officials and their U.S. counterparts have clinched a framework agreement on the TikTok issue through their high-level trade talks in Spain.
China and U.S. reached a basic framework consensus on resolving issues related to TikTok through cooperation, reducing investment barriers and promoting relevant economic and trade cooperation, said Li Chenggang, China international trade representative with the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) and vice minister of commerce, the state news agency Xinhua reported.
Both sides will continue to maintain close communication, discuss the details of the relevant outcome documents, and each will go through the domestic approval procedures, according to Li.