The United States claim that Framework for Deal on Future of Tiktok agrees with China

The Secretary in the United States of the Treasury said that Washington had entered into a “executive” agreement with China on the ownership of American operations in Tiktok.

Scott Bessent said the framework was established in commercial talks in Madrid to open the way to American property. He added that US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping would conclude the agreement on Friday. China has not commented.

Trump declared on Truth Social that the discussions in Madrid had “gone very well”, with an agreement concluded “on a certain business that the young people of our country wanted to save a lot”.

A deadline is looming for the Chinese owner of Tiktok to find a buyer for his American operations or to face a ban in the United States.

In January, the United States Supreme Court confirmed a law adopted in April 2024, prohibiting the application of video sharing unless its parent company Bytedance sells its American division.

The US Ministry of Justice said Tiktok’s access to American users poses “a national security threat of immense depth and scale”.

Bytedance has repeatedly insisted that its American operations are entirely independent and that no data has been shared with the Chinese government. The company argued that the prohibition would violate the protections of freedom of expression for its 170 million American users.

Tiktok became dark for a day in January after the entry into force of the law, before Trump intervened and published a postponement of 75 days.

The deadline for sale has since been extended three times, and the last delay in the ban should end on September 17.

Various figures have already been presented as potential buyers of the platform, notably the owner of Tesla, Elon Musk, the creator of YouTube Mrbeast and the billionaire investor Frank McCourt.

Bessent announced the “executive” agreement on the second day of commercial negotiations between the United States and China aimed at putting an end to a trade war between the two largest economies in the world.