The Trump administration announced that an agreement has been successfully finalized with China regarding TikTok

An agreement has been finalized between the Trump administration and China to allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States, officials announced on Monday. This resolution marks the culmination of a lengthy effort that began during President Donald Trump’s initial term. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed that a comprehensive framework has been established, and President Trump is scheduled to speak with Chinese leader Xi Jinping this Friday to finalize the details of the deal. “President Trump was involved in this process; we had a call with him last night and received clear guidance from him, which we then shared with our Chinese counterparts,” Bessent explained in Madrid on Monday. “His leadership and the influence he wields were crucial in enabling us to reach today’s agreement.” The Trump administration did not officially identify the buyer supported by the United States; however, it is widely believed that the group is led by Oracle Executive Chairman Larry Ellison, who recently briefly held the title of the world’s richest individual. In January, President Trump mentioned his support for Ellison, a known supporter of his, to acquire TikTok’s US operations. Meanwhile, Chinese and American diplomats have been holding discussions in Spain this week to address trade and various other issues. Bessent, leading the latest round of U.S.-China trade negotiations on behalf of the United States, indicated that TikTok was among the key topics on the agenda. “Our focus was on ensuring that the deal with TikTok is fair to Chinese interests while fully addressing U.S. national security concerns,” said U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Monday. “We aim to create a balanced environment for Chinese investment in the U.S., but always prioritize national security first.” President Trump repeatedly extended his self-imposed deadlines for reaching an agreement with China regarding the sale of at least a portion of ByteDance’s TikTok operations in the United States to an American-backed entity. Congress, with bipartisan support, passed legislation that was signed into law by former President Joe Biden, effectively banning TikTok in the U.S. due to concerns over national security. Under this law, TikTok is permitted to continue functioning in the country only if its China-based parent company fully divests its ownership of the U.S. assets. On January 18, TikTok briefly went offline in the United States, just a day before the Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act was set to take effect. The following day, January 19 one day prior to Donald Trump beginning his second term he announced his intention to sign an executive order at the start of his new presidency. This order was designed to protect U.S. companies from penalties related to hosting TikTok on their app stores or servers. Signed on January 20, the executive directive postponed the law’s enforcement by 75 days. Trump further extended this deadline in June. Most recently, the deadline was pushed back to September 17, with widespread expectation that Trump would again delay enforcement if a satisfactory agreement was not reached in time. The law grants the president considerable authority to decide how to implement the ban. However, critics argue that Trump’s extensions undermined the legislative intentions of Congress. Near the end of his first term, Trump pushed for a ban on TikTok a proposal that was never enacted into law but was later endorsed and signed by Biden. Trump’s stance on the app shifted after he concluded that TikTok played a role in bolstering his prospects for victory in the 2024 election. TikTok currently has approximately 170 million users in the United States, many of whom are young people a demographic that tended to favor the Republican candidate more strongly in recent elections. While Trump has repeatedly claimed that a deal is imminent, no significant breakthrough has occurred until last Monday.