A framework agreement has been reached between Washington and Beijing on the future of TikTok, potentially ending years of uncertainty over the app’s ownership and security concerns, US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent announced after weekend trade talks in Madrid.
Bessent said US president Donald Trump and Chinese premier Xi Jinping are expected to speak on Friday to discuss final details of the deal, which aims to transfer ownership of the social video platform from its Chinese parent company ByteDance to a US entity.
“We are not going to talk about the commercial terms of the deal,” Bessent told reporters. “It’s between two private parties. But the commercial terms have been agreed upon.”
Li Chenggang, China’s international trade representative, said both sides had reached a “basic framework consensus” to resolve the long-running TikTok row, reduce investment barriers and deepen trade cooperation.
The agreement comes after years of wrangling over the platform’s data security and algorithm, which US officials feared could be accessed by Beijing under Chinese law. Wang Jingtao of China’s Cyberspace Affairs Commission confirmed there was consensus on authorising use of TikTok’s algorithm and entrusting a partner with handling US user data.
The move represents the clearest path yet to avoid a ban. Under Joe Biden’s presidency, Congress had approved measures forcing ByteDance to sell its stake or face exclusion from the US market. Trump, who later re-extended deadlines, has argued he could indefinitely delay a ban. The current extension expires Wednesday.
Trade representative Jamieson Greer said the US team had been “very focused on TikTok and making sure that it was a deal that is fair for the Chinese but also completely respects US national security concerns.”
Analysts say the framework could pave the way for a broader US-China trade summit later this year.
