US President Donald Trump announced an agreement with China on Tiktok to the United States Tiktok on Tuesday.
The agreement requires that Tiktok ‘American assets be transferred to the American owners of China, potentially resolving a saga that has persisted for almost a year.
An agreement for the popular application of social media, which has 170 million American users, would represent a breakthrough in talks of several months between the two largest economies in the world as they seek to defuse a large -scale trade war that has upset the world markets.
“We have an agreement on Tiktok … We have a group of very large companies who want to buy it,” said Trump in a White House briefing, without providing more details. The announcement comes one day before a deadline of September 17 to sell or close the short video application.
Later in the day, the White House extended this deadline until December 16. The White House refused to provide other details on the agreement with China.
Li Chenggang, representative of Chinese international trade, said that the two parties had reached a “basic consensus” to correctly solve the problems related to Tiktok in a cooperative manner, reduce obstacles to investments and promote the related economic and commercial cooperation
The delay will give Bytedance still 90 days to finalize an agreement to transfer American assets of Tiktok to American owners, which suggests that a lot of work must be done to conclude the complex transaction.
The American entity will have a board of directors dominated by the United States, reported the Wall Street Journal, with a member appointed by the United States government.
Bytedance will keep the largest participation: sources
Any agreement may require the approval of the congress controlled by the Republican, which adopted a law in 2024 during the Biden administration which required the divestment of Tiktok because of fear that its US user data will be accessible by the Chinese government, allowing Beijing to spy on the Americans or to carry out influence operations through the application.
The bases of the New Deal understand that Bytedance will keep the largest participation at 19.9%, just under the 20% threshold of the law, two familiar sources told Reuters.
The Trump administration has refused to enforce the law because of the concerns that it would anger the huge base of users of Tiktok and disrupt political communications, rather extending the deadline for disinvestment three times.
Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg had a headquarters at the presidential inauguration of Donald Trump. And when Tiktok returned to American users after being almost prohibited, a contextual message on the application credited Trump from his return. So what influence can the growing bond between the new American administration and these technological media leaders have on Canadians? The Morning Edition spoke to Brian Mcquinn of the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Regina and co -director of the Center for Artificial Intelligence, Data and Conflict.
Trump, Tiktok has credited to having helped him win the re -election last year and has 15 million followers on his personal account. The White House also launched an official Tiktok account last month.
US Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent, said on Tuesday that the commercial conditions of the agreement had been carried out since around March with only a few details to iron.
“This agreement would not be done without appropriate guarantees for American national security,” said Bessent. “It seems that we were also able to respond to Chinese interest.”
CNBC said on Tuesday that the agreement should be concluded in the next 30 to 45 days and that the agreement will include existing investors in the parent based in Tiktok, Bytedance and new investors.
The details comply with Reuters reports in April that the agreement would turn the US Tiktok operations in a new company based in the United States and belonging to the majority and operated by American investors.
An agreement was put on hold after China indicated that it would not approve it following Trump prices announcements on Chinese products.
The International Group Susquehanna by Jeff Yass, General Atlantic, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Sequoia Capital are among the American donors.
Disagreements on Chinese links
Washington said Tiktok’s property by Bytedance reports to the Chinese government.
But the company said that US officials had disturbed its links with China, arguing that its content recommendation engine and its user data are stored in the United States on cloud servers operated by Oracle, while content decisions that affect American users are also taken in the United States
CNBC reported Tuesday that Oracle will retain its Cloud Agreement with Tiktok. Reuters reported earlier this year that the White House was working on a plan to type Oracle, as well as a group of external investors, to control the application operations.
As part of the plan, Oracle would have been responsible for solving national security problems, Reuters reported.
Friday, a final confirmation of the agreement is expected in a call between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Trump said in March that his administration was in contact with four different groups on the sale of Tiktok. Microsoft, Amazon, billionaire Frank McCourt and a consortium led by the founder of Onlyfans were among bidders, according to reports.
