Trump suggests deal reached involving TikTok
Washington (CBS NEWS) –U.S. and Chinese negotiators have agreed to the outlines of a deal to resolve the dispute over ownership of TikTok, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday, adding that President Trump is set to speak to Chinese President Xi Jinping later this week.
“We have a framework for a TikTok deal,” Bessent said after talks with Chinese officials in Spain. “The two leaders, President Trump and Party Chair Xi, will speak on Friday to complete the deal. But we do have a framework for a deal with TikTok.”
Bessent said the agreement is “between two private parties” and that “the commercial terms have been agreed upon.” He said the talks in Spain centered around the future of the app.
Mr. Trump hinted at the agreement in a post on Truth Social earlier Monday morning.
“The big Trade Meeting in Europe between The United States of America, and China, has gone VERY WELL! It will be concluding shortly,” the president wrote. “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!!!”
The president’s orders have directed the Justice Department not to take action or impose penalties against tech companies like Apple and Google for failing to comply with the law by allowing TikTok on their platforms.
Mr. Trump’s extensions have come as the U.S. tries to negotiate an agreement that would separate the hugely popular video-sharing app from ByteDance. The Trump administration appeared close to a deal in the spring, which would have spun TikTok’s U.S.-based operations into a new company owned and operated by a majority of American investors, and allowed ByteDance to maintain a minority stake. But Mr. Trump’s sweeping tariffs on Chinese imports scuttled the proposed deal.
ByteDance, however, refuted then that an agreement had not been reached because there were still key issues unresolved. TikTok’s parent company said any deal regarding the app’s future would be subject to approval by the Chinese government.
Under the law, passed with bipartisan support by Congress in April 2024, TikTok had until Jan. 19 to divest from TikTok or be cut off from U.S. app stores and web-hosting services. A legal challenge to the ban brought by TikTok and ByteDance landed before the Supreme Court, which unanimously upheld the law.
While TikTok briefly and voluntarily shut down ahead of the January deadline, it reinstated access to users in the U.S. after Mr. Trump vowed his administration would not enforce the ban.
While Congress has for years warned that TikTok raises national security concerns and allows China to collect sweeping amounts of data on Americans, the president has repeatedly expressed his affinity for TikTok because of its popularity with young people.
Still, some Republicans have been skeptical Mr. Trump has the legal authority to continue pushing the deadline for enforcing the TikTok ban and have said the law should be enforced.
