By David Lawder and Pietro Lombardi
MADRID/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States and China reached a framework agreement to switch short-video app TikTok to U.S.-controlled ownership that will be confirmed in a call between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday, U.S. officials said.
TikTok faced being switched off in the U.S. as soon as September 17 if Chinese owner ByteDance didn’t agree to divest. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said it was possible the deadline could be extended to allow for the deal to be finalised.
“We’re not going to talk about the commercial terms of the deal. It’s between two private parties, but the commercial terms have been agreed upon,” Bessent told reporters at the conclusion of two days of talks that took place in Madrid.
The U.S.-China negotiations at the Spanish foreign ministry’s baroque Palacio de Santa Cruz were the fourth round of talks in four months to address strained trade ties as well as TikTok’s looming divestiture deadline.
Trump praised the TikTok deal on Monday.
“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 on his TruthSocial platform.
“A deal was also reached on a “certain” company that young people in our Country very much wanted to save. They will be very happy! I will be speaking to President Xi on Friday. The relationship remains a very strong one!!!”
Delegations led by Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng have met in European cities since May to try to resolve differences that prompted U.S. President Trump to raise tariffs on Chinese imports and sparked tit-for-tat measures, including similarly high import duties by China on U.S. goods and a halt in the flow of rare earths to the United States.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who was also part of the U.S. delegation in Madrid, said the TikTok deal was an indication of good faith between the two sides as they continue to discuss other issues such as tariffs and economic policy.
“It’s no secret that there are serious issues on trade, economics, and national security between the United States and China. To be able to come, sit down, quickly identify the issues, narrow them down to a very granular spot, and be able to come to a conclusion, subject to the leaders’ approval, I mean, that is remarkable,” Greer said.
TRUMP, XI TO DISCUSS MEETING
Bessent said talks on other issues would continue, probably in the coming weeks. Trump has repeatedly expressed interest in a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Bessent said it was up to the leaders to discuss whether to meet during Friday’s call.
Earlier on Monday a U.S. official with knowledge of the negotiations had said that the U.S. would press ahead with a ban on TikTok if China didn’t drop its demands for reduced tariffs and technological restrictions as part of a divestiture deal.
Speaking to reporters, Bessent and Greer said China wanted concessions on trade and technology in exchange for agreeing to divest from the popular social media app.
“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.”
The talks 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. Bessent said the issue of Russia was briefly discussed.
Beijing separately announced on Monday that a preliminary investigation of Nvidia had found the U.S. 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.
(Reporting by David Lawder, Pietro Lombardi, Ethan Wang, and Andrea Shalal; Additional reporting by Brendan O’Brien and Doina Chiacu in Washington; Writing by Charlie Devereux; Editing by Lisa Shumaker, Clarence Fernandez and Susan Fenton)
