US President Donald Trump speaks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Friday.
China had a long list of demands during talks in Madrid this week, Bessent said. He described the negotiations as thorough and conducted with great respect, reported news agency Reuters.
On Monday, China and the US announced that they had reached a framework agreement following months of talks between the world’s top two economies. The agreement aims to ease a trade war that has impacted global markets, the report added.
According to Bessent, Trump made it clear he would allow TikTok, which has 170 million US users, to go offline without a deal that transfers ownership to US-controlled entities. However, Trump has already extended the deadline for a deal three times, and a fourth extension is expected on Wednesday.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent expects a TikTok deal to be finalised after Trump and Xi’s meeting. Following months of negotiations, a framework agreement has been reached amid concerns over data security and Chinese ownership.
“We have a framework for a TikTok deal,” Bessent told reporters, without elaborating on the specific commercial terms. “It’s between two private parties, but the commercial terms have been agreed upon,” he added.
TikTok has been under scrutiny in Washington, with lawmakers worried that its Chinese ownership could allow Beijing access to sensitive user data. In April 2024, former US President Joe Biden signed a law requiring ByteDance to sell its US TikTok operations within nine months or face a nationwide ban.
On January 18, the short video platform was briefly banned in the US. However, on his first day back in the Oval Office, Trump signed an executive order that delayed enforcement for 75 days. The US President later extended this deadline twice, with the current due date being September 17.
On Monday, Li Chenggang, China’s top trade negotiator, announced that the two countries had reached a framework agreement to address disputes related to TikTok.
“The outcomes of the trade and economic consultations are hard won, and the US side should not, on the one hand, ask China to accommodate its concerns, whilst at the same time continue to suppress Chinese companies,” Li said in Madrid.
