The United States and China have reached a framework agreement that would allow TikTok to continue operating in the US under American-controlled ownership, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Monday following trade talks in Madrid.
“We have a framework for a TikTok deal,” Bessent said, noting that “the commercial terms have been agreed upon” but declining to disclose details. He added that the agreement was struck between “two private parties.”
The framework comes just days before a September 17 deadline requiring TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to divest its US operations or face a shutdown.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said a short extension might be granted to complete the deal, but noted that “we’re not going to be in the business of having repetitive extensions.”
President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are scheduled to speak on Friday to finalize the agreement.
Trump also wrote on Truth Social that a deal was reached regarding a “certain company that young people in our Country very much wanted to save.”
The dispute over TikTok’s ownership has stretched on for years, driven by US concerns about data security and the app’s links to ByteDance.
Congress last year passed legislation prohibiting app stores from distributing TikTok in the US unless the platform is divested from foreign control. Trump has repeatedly extended deadlines for compliance through executive orders in January, April, and June.
Potential buyers for TikTok’s US business have not yet been disclosed, though Trump has previously mentioned Oracle founder Larry Ellison and Tesla CEO Elon Musk as possible candidates. Other reported bidders have included AI startup Perplexity and businessman Frank McCourt’s Project Liberty initiative.