[MADRID] The US and China have reached a framework agreement to switch short-video app TikTok to US-controlled ownership, top US officials said on Monday (Sep 15), with US President Donald Trump set to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer announced the agreement after a meeting between senior US and Chinese officials in Madrid, but declined to give any of the commercial terms of the agreement.
Bessent told reporters that further details would wait to be determined in a call on Friday between Trump and Xi.
Trump said on Monday that trade talks with China had gone very well and hinted that a deal had been reached to resolve issues the US has over TikTok ownership.
“The big trade meeting in Europe between (the US) and China has gone very well! It will be concluding shortly,” Trump wrote on his TruthSocial platform.
“A deal was also reached on a ‘certain’ company that young people in our country very much wanted to save,” he added. “They will be very happy! I will be speaking to President Xi on Friday. The relationship remains a very strong one!”
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Earlier on Monday, a US official with knowledge of the negotiations had said that the US would press ahead with a ban on TikTok if China did not drop its demands for reduced tariffs and technological restrictions as part of a divestiture deal.
US and China delegations met to discuss the divestment from TikTok by Chinese owner Bytedance as part of a round of broader talks on tariffs and economic policy taking place in Madrid. TikTok faces being shut down as early as Wednesday in the US unless it moves to US ownership.
Speaking to reporters earlier, Bessent and Greer said China wanted concessions on trade and technology in exchange for agreeing to divest from the popular social media app.
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“Our Chinese counterparts have come with a very aggressive ask,” Bessent said, adding: “We are not willing to sacrifice national security for a social media app.”
Poor timing
The US-China negotiations at the Spanish foreign ministry’s baroque Palacio de Santa Cruz, which began on Sunday, were the fourth round of talks in four months to address strained trade ties and a looming divestiture deadline for TikTok.
They took 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.
Beijing separately announced on Monday that a preliminary investigation of Nvidia had found the US chip giant had violated its anti-monopoly law. Bessent said the announcement on Nvidia was poor timing.
The probe is widely seen as a retaliatory shot against Washington’s curbs on the Chinese chip sector.
