The US and China have reached a “framework” arrangement to settle their disagreement over TikTok. The pact says that the Chinese-owned app will be owned by the US.
Donald Trump, the President of the United States, said in a social media post that a deal was made with a “certain company that young people in our country really wanted to save.” He did not name the company specifically. They will be really happy!
According to AFP, Trump said on his Truth Social network that he would talk to Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday.
Scott Bessent, the US Treasury Secretary, said the deal was reached after a second day of talks with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Madrid. The talks also included talks regarding the bigger trade dispute between the US and China.
Bessent told reporters, “We have a framework for a TikTok deal.” He went on to say that the app needs to “switch to US-controlled ownership.”
“It’s between two private people, but they have agreed on the business terms,” he stated.
Bessent wouldn’t reveal anything else, but he did suggest that Trump and Xi would talk on Friday to “complete” the deal.
ByteDance, a Chinese internet startup, owns TikTok, which has approximately two billion subscribers throughout the world.
A federal legislation that would have required TikTok to be sold or banned for national security reasons was set to go into effect the day before Donald Trump became president on January 20.
The Republican, who used social media a lot in his 2024 campaign and stated he liked TikTok, put the ban on hold.
In the middle of June, Trump gave the popular video-sharing app another 90 days to find a buyer who wasn’t Chinese or face a ban in the US. That extension will end on Wednesday.
– “Questions unanswered” –
Trump had long favored a ban or divestment, but he changed his mind and promised to protect the platform after realizing that it helped him earn young voters’ support in the November election.
Sarah Kreps of Cornell University’s Tech Policy Institute said, “national security questions remain unanswered,” pointing out that the contract doesn’t make it obvious how data and algorithms would be protected.
The meetings in Madrid also talk about Trump’s vow to put high tariffs on Chinese goods.
Trump wrote on Truth Social today that the meeting in Europe “has gone VERY WELL!” and that “The relationship remains a very strong one!!!”
Earlier this year, trade tensions got a lot worse, with tariffs going up and down and supply chains getting stuck.
The US and China later agreed to drop their punitive tariffs. The US charged 30% on Chinese goods and China charged 10% on US goods, but the truce will end in November.
The US-China trade truce has been shaky, with Washington accusing Beijing of breaking their deal and taking too long to get export licenses for rare earths, which are important commodities for the automotive, electronics, and defense industries.
– Investigation into Nvidia –
On Saturday, China started two investigations into the US semiconductor industry.
The Chinese commerce ministry stated in a statement that Beijing has started an investigation into some integrated circuit chips that came from the United States.
In a different statement, the ministry also said it would look into whether the US had treated the Chinese semiconductor industry unfairly.
Today, China said that a study revealed that Nvidia, a US semiconductor giant, had broken the country’s antitrust laws, and promised to look into it further.
The statement didn’t say anything else regarding Nvidia’s supposed legal problems or the new investigation.
Beijing, which announced the investigation in December, is now in a fierce competition with the United States for dominance in the important industry of semiconductors.
Last week, the top diplomats and defense leaders from both countries talked on the phone back-to-back. Analysts thought this may be a step toward a summit between Trump and Xi.
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