TikTok executives testified to the committee that children's safety is their top priority
AFP

The United States and China have reached a "framework" agreement to transfer TikTok's U.S. operations to American ownership, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday during trade talks in Madrid.

"The framework has been agreed. Presidents Trump and Xi will complete it on Friday," Bessent said, according to Reuters.

The announcement came on the second day of high-level negotiations led by Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, aimed at easing wider trade tensions. The talks also cover disputes over tariffs, technology transfers and rare earth supply chains.

Looming Deadline for TikTok

The framework could avert a looming U.S. ban on TikTok, which is owned by the China-based company ByteDance. A law passed in April 2024 and upheld by the Supreme Court in January requires ByteDance to sell TikTok's U.S. arm or face a nationwide shutdown.

The current deadline for a sale expires on Sept. 17, after several previous extensions.

Jamieson Greer, part of the U.S. delegation, said the agreement is "subject to the leaders' approval" but added his team is "not in the business of having repetitive [ban] extensions," BBC News reported.

President Trump said on Truth Social that the talks had "gone very well," while China's Ministry of Commerce confirmed a framework had been reached but insisted any deal must not come at the expense of Chinese companies' interests. Chinese negotiator Li Chenggang said the leadership in Beijing would review the terms before any final agreement.

National Security Dispute

U.S. officials have long argued that TikTok's access to American users' data poses a national security threat. ByteDance has repeatedly denied those claims, saying its U.S. operations are fully independent and that no data has been shared with the Chinese government.

TikTok briefly went offline in the U.S. in January after the law took effect, before Trump intervened to issue a 75-day postponement. The ban deadline has since been extended three more times.

Wider Trade Tensions Remain

Bessent said the threat to shut down TikTok had persuaded Chinese negotiators to drop their demand for U.S. tariff cuts as part of the deal. He added that the commercial terms agreed would protect U.S. national security interests.

Despite this tentative breakthrough, broader U.S.–China trade tensions remain unresolved. Earlier this year, both countries imposed steep tit-for-tat tariffs before agreeing to temporarily lower them, but that truce is set to expire in November.

Meanwhile, Beijing has launched investigations into the U.S. semiconductor sector, including an anti-dumping probe on certain integrated circuits and an antitrust inquiry into U.S. chip giant Nvidia.