U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are reportedly close to striking a deal that would allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States under a new ownership structure—one that would transfer the app’s U.S. assets from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to U.S. owners. The move is seen as an effort to break the deadlock in U.S.–China relations amid longstanding trade, security, and technological tensions.
The agreement heads Trump and Xi’s first phone call in over three months and is expected to set the tone for broader diplomatic engagement. Also on the agenda are trade disputes, with the two leaders likely to leverage this TikTok deal to build momentum ahead of a potential in-person meeting during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea in late October.
Key points of contention remain: how much control ByteDance will retain over TikTok’s algorithm, what safeguards will be implemented to address U.S. national security concerns, and whether Congress will accept the ownership deal. While Trump has delayed enforcing legislation requiring TikTok to divest or face a ban by January 2025, he has also cautioned that the platform holds political sensitivity due to its large user base and its role in political communications.
Even as the TikTok deal takes center stage, it exists amidst wider friction between Washington and Beijing—over tariffs, export controls on advanced technologies, and demands for China to crack down on the export of precursor chemicals tied to the U.S. fentanyl crisis. Both economies are facing slower growth, and this partial détente around TikTok could become a barometer for whether either side is willing to compromise.
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