A Tiktok Deal May Finally Be Happening

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said that nan United States and China person reached a model woody connected TikTok. Speaking to reporters successful Madrid aft 2 days of talks pinch his Chinese counterparts, Bessent said, “It’s betwixt 2 backstage parties, but nan commercialized position person been agreed upon.” President Trump said successful a Truth Social post that he will beryllium speaking pinch Xi Jinping this Friday regarding nan imaginable deal, among different things.

This breakthrough comes aft nan Trump management extended nan TikTok prohibition for a 3rd clip earlier this summer, giving nan institution until September 17 to acquisition a waste aliases look a prohibition successful nan United States. The short-form video contented app faced expanding scrutiny complete nationalist information concerns owed to nan Chinese ownership of its genitor company, ByteDance.

President Trump issued an executive order successful August 2020 banning nan app successful nan United States unless it was divested from ByteDance, though courts halted enforcement of nan order. In 2024 nan United States Congress passed nan Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA) which was signed into law by then-President Biden. The Trump management has many times delayed nan enforcement of that rule successful hopes a woody could beryllium made for a US-based acquisition, leaving nan app online successful nan meantime.

As it stands, this appears to beryllium a model for really TikTok could travel nether immoderate level of US control, and not a signed last deal. Companies from Oracle to Microsoft person expressed liking successful acquiring TikTok, and nan president is on record arsenic saying he would beryllium OK if a "very American company" buys it. It's unclear if nan September 17 deadline will beryllium pushed erstwhile again, but US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said connected Monday that different hold whitethorn beryllium needed successful bid to get nan woody signed.